Yahtzee! Now that Canalys , IDC and Strategy Analytics have had their turn, it’s Gartner’s visit serve up its summary of the smartphone world as seen in Q3 2011. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the headlines aren’t changing much, with Samsung becoming the #1 smartphone manufacturer worldwide with sales reaching 24 million, and Android’s quarterly market share inching over 50 percent to best iOS, BlackBerry OS, etc. We also (re)learned that Apple shipped 17 million iPhones within the quarter, which represents an annual uptick of 21 percent, but a three percent drop from Q2 2011 because of the looming iPhone 4S release; predictably, Gartner’s predicting that Apple’s Q4 2011 could be its strongest yet with the 4S in the marketplace. Breaking the operating system share somewhat, we found that Symbian is (strangely) still being included, and that Android managed to soar from 25.3 percent in Q3 2010 to 52.5 percent today. iOS actually lost just a little ground (16.6 percent a year ago in comparison to 15 percent today), but in fairness, so did BlackBerry OS and Bada. Interested by Microsoft? It’s claiming just 1.5 percent of the global pie, a reasonably precipitous drop from the two.7 percent it had a year ago. Way more fun facts and figures await you after the break.
- Android OS Rose to Account for Greater than 50 Percent of Smartphone Sales
Egham, UK, November 15, 2011- ï’¿ ï’¿
Worldwide sales of mobile devices totaled 440.5 million units inside the third quarter of 2011, up 5.6 percent from an analogous period last year, in keeping with Gartner, Inc. Non-smartphone devices performed well, driven by demand in emerging markets for low-cost devices from white-box manufacturers, and for dual-subscriber identity module (SIM) devices.
Sales into the channel reached 460 million units. Gartner analysts said this increase was attributable to inventory build-up within the channel partly as a result of shipping of latest devices late within the quarter but mostly to arrange the channel for the vacation season. Gartner expects the various build-as much as be sold by the primary quarter of 2012.
“Our forecast for the tip of the year remains broadly in line at a world level as regions equivalent to Asia/Pacific and the center East and Africa make up for weaker performance within the Western European market,” said Annette Zimmermann, principal analyst at Gartner based in Munich.
Smartphone sales to finish users reached 115 million units within the third quarter of 2011, up 42 percent from the third quarter of 2010. Sequentially, smartphone sales slowed to 7 percent growth from the second one quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2011. Smartphone sales accounted for 26 percent of all cell phone sales, growing only marginally from 25 percent within the previous quarter.
“Strong smartphone growth in China and Russia helped increase overall volumes within the quarter, but demand for smartphones stalled in advanced markets similar to Western Europe and the U.S. as many users waited for brand new flagship devices featuring new versions of the main operating systems,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Slowdowns also occurred in Latin America and the center East and Africa.”
“Some consumers held off upgrading within the third quarter because they were expecting promotions on other new high-end models that were launched inside the run-as much as the fourth quarter holiday season,” Ms. Cozza said. “Other consumers were looking forward to a rumored new iPhone and associated price cuts on older iPhone models; this affected U.S. sales particularly.”
Despite a drop in market share, Nokia continued to be the global leader in mobile device sales because it accounted for 23.9 percent of worldwide sales (see Table 1). The second one quarter of 2011 was the low point for Nokia, and the third quarter brought signs of improvement. Dual-SIM phones particularly, and have phones generally, maintained Nokia’s momentum in emerging markets. Heavy marketing from both Nokia and Microsoft to push the recent Lumia devices should bring more improvement within the fourth quarter of 2011. However, a real turnaround won’t manifest until the second one 1/2 2012.
Samsung became the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer worldwide as sales to finish users tripled year over year to achieve 24 million; sell in was high because the channel built inventory. Samsung was the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer for the primary time, sooner than Nokia in Western Europe and Asia. Gartner attributes this to the strong performance of Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones, which now cover a broad range of costs, and a weaker competitive market. Analysts expect more competition within the fourth quarter of 2011, not least because sales of the iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS will capture share from Android manufacturers.
Apple shipped 17 million iPhones, an annual increase of 21 percent, but down nearly 3 million units from the second one quarter of 2011 on account of Apple’s new device announcement in October. Gartner believes Apple will get better inside the fourth quarter as a result of its strongest ever preorders for the iPhone 4S inside the first weekend after its announcement. Markets including Brazil, Mexico, Russia and China are getting more important to Apple, representing 16 percent of overall sales and showing that the iPhone has an area in emerging markets, especially now that the 3GS and four have received price cuts.
The Android OS accounted for 52.5 percent of smartphone sales to finish users within the third quarter of 2011 (see Table 2), greater than doubling its market share from the third quarter of 2010.
“Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment and the shortcoming of exciting new products on alternative operating systems resembling Windows Phone 7 and RIM,” Ms. Cozza said. “Apple’s iOS market share suffered from delayed purchases as consumers waited for the brand new iPhone. Continued pressure is impacting RIM’s performance, and its smartphone share reached its lowest point to this point within the U.S. market, where it dropped to ten percent.”
Source: Gartner (November 2011)
Additional info comes in the Gartner report “Market Share: Mobile Communication Devices by Region and Country, 3Q11,” that’s available on Gartner’s website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1847315.
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