Growth in the mobile phone industry is expected to slow to the single digits going forward from this year, according to market research firm IDC. Last quarter saw a rise in unit sales of 11.6-percent, with the previous holiday quarter fluctuating between 18- and 30-percent. Despite the slowing growth, more than 300 million mobile units were sold during the quarter, which is a record for any quarter, historically. Overall, 1.14 billion phones were sold worldwide, which is 12.4-percent more than the year prior.

Samsung last year overtook Motorola as the second most popular worldwide brand for cell phones, growing at almost four times the market norm, with Nokia remaining firmly in first place. Nokia expects to ship around 1.5 million phones each day for the quarter, an amount the company is settling for due to component shortages.