Wouldn’t it be nice if other consumer electronics products saw the swift rebound that cellular phones are enjoying?
Shipments of cell phones rose 14.5 percent worldwide during the second quarter over last year, returning to 2008 levels, said IDC.
Phone shipments reached 317.5 million during the quarter, with nimble smartphone makers siphoning market share from traditional heavyweights like Nokia and Motorola.
Nokia remains the largest maker of phones but its share dropped from 40 to 35 percent over the past two years. Motorola has also dropped to 7th place. Samsung and LG Electronics are now in the number 2 and 3 positions.
BlackBerry maker RIM is now number 4 at 11.2 million units and Apple and HTC follow with 8.4 million and 6.5 million units, respectively.
IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said, “Companies with a strict focus on the smartphone market, like RIM, Apple, and HTC have clearly benefited from steadily increasing user interest.”
The Consumer Electronics Assoc. said this month that cell phones will hit shipment revenues of $26 billion in the U.S. by next year. Smartphones will drive much of the growth in the category, with unit shipments climbing 31 percent to 54 million smartphones in the U.S. and then more than doubling to 66 million in 2011.
Source: IDC and AP via Yahoo!
Photo: HTC EVO 4G
