The worldwide smartphone market grew 50 percent year over year in Q2, driven in large part by makers of smartphones powered by Google's Android OS, according to a study by IDC. Vendors of smartphones shipped a total of 63 million units in Q2, compared to 41.9 million units in the same period a year ago. For H1, vendors shipped a total of 118.3 million units, up 54 percent from the 76.8 million units shipped during the first half of 2009. Google's smartphone partners, such as HTC and Samsung, posted the highest year-over-year growth rates in IDC's Q2 smartphone top ten vendor rankings. Four of the top ten vendors, all of whom predominantly ship Android-powered smartphones, posted year-over-year growth rates greater than 100 percent. HTC was the top supplier of Android devices last quarter, on a unit shipment basis. The worldwide smartphone market will continue this growth in the second half, IDC predicts, setting up a critical starting point for 2011. Both BlackBerry and Symbian 3 are poised with fresh, yet familiar experiences while Windows Phone 7 promises a complete break from previous versions. All these are expected to launch in the second half.
Nokia remained the top smartphone vendor worldwide in Q2, with 38.1 percent market share and 24 million units shipped, up 42 percent , but cited challenges on the high-end of the smartphone market from the competition, resulting in declining ASPs. Furthermore, Nokia's progress year over year did not keep up with the overall growth of the smartphone market. With the upcoming launch of the Symbian 3-powered N8 and its new MeeGo OS, Nokia hopes to create and capture value within the high end of the market while maintaining its strong presence within the entry-level and mid-range segments. Research In Motion broke the 11 million unit shipment figure for the first time in the company's history, gaining 17.8 percent market share, due in part to the BlackBerry Pearl 3G and the BlackBerry Tour 9650 product launches across multiple markets. The company maintained its second place global smartphone position for the seventh consecutive quarter. RIM posted triple-digit growth and gained smartphone share in regions such as APEJ. However, its global share dipped on a year-over-year basis. In North America, RIM lost share for the fifth straight quarter. RIM hopes its new Bold 9800 device, featuring BlackBerry OS 6.0, will help it regain lost share to Android partners and Apple in quarters to come.
Apple maintained its global number three smartphone supplier position with 13.3 percent market share, and record shipments of 8.4 million units, up 61.5 percent. Apple is set to introduce the iPhone 4 to users in seventeen countries in the third quarter. HTC recorded positive progress during Q2, having more than doubled its shipment volumes to 4.8 million units, from a year ago, and posting healthy double-digit profit margins and steady ASPs. The company also used the quarter to launch several devices, including the Desire, Droid Incredible, EVO 4G, and the HD2. As a result, HTC has found itself well-positioned within the high-end of the smartphone market. Such fast growth could put pressure on its supply chain, but the company believes it is well positioned to meet demand during the second half of the year. Samsung supplanted Motorola in the top five smartphone rankings last quarter. The company shipped a record number of smartphones and posted its highest smartphone growth rate since the third quarter of 2008. Samsung benefited from a strong performance in the APEJ region where it launched Galaxy S series devices in markets such as South Korea. Samsung hopes to outperform the market again in the third quarter when it introduces the Galaxy S series of phones to North America.
