IDC: Apple overtakes LG to become third-largest phone maker
updated 09:10 am EST, Thu February 2, 2012
IDC says Apple past LG in Q4 and all of 2011
New IDC data has shown Apple's 37 million iPhone sales making it the third-largest cellphone maker in the world. More than doubling its shipments, in tandem with LG nearly cutting its shipments in half to 17.7 million, saw it move up a spot and stake out 8.7 percent of the entire cellphone space. The change in position carried through for all of 2011, with Apple's 93.2 million iPhones putting it at six percent of all phones sold that year while LG was down to 5.7 percent, or 88.1 million.
LG was relatively late to adopting high-end smartphones and only just started recovering with phones like the Optimus LTE in its mix.
Nokia and Samsung were still first and second and moving in their now-familiar directions, with Nokia declining about eight percent both in the fall and year-round while Samsung climbed nearly 21 percent this fall and 18 percent in the year. Assumptions that ZTE would take advantage of the rapid rise of China's smartphones didn't pan out, as it stayed almost flat in share even after shipping more phones both in the fall and for all of 2011.
Across every region, basic feature phones were in a consistent decline and sometimes not fully compensated by the increases in smartphones. Android was still doing consistent well, but most of its highlights were in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, where low-end and mid-range phones were the hottest choices for those not picking iPhones.
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The Computer Co.
This from the company that the phone titans, 5 years ago, said were out of their league and knew nothing about how to build a successful mobile phone.
Humble pie is a helluva sour dessert!