Riding on the popularity of the iPhone 4S released in October, Apple became the world's No. 1 seller/maker of smartphones in 2011's final quarter, shipping 37 million iPhones and overtaking Samsung for the top spot, according to a recent report.
According to Strategy Analytics, smartphone shipments all over the world "grew 54 percent annually to reach a record 155 million units" in that fourth quarter, led by Apple, which saw a 128 percent increase.
With 24 percent of the global market share, Apple wrested the smartphone crown back from Samsung, which had taken it in the third quarter of 2011. While Apple is now ahead on a quarterly basis, Samsung is winning the war. The report says that in a first, Samsung is the "market leader in annual terms" with 20 percent of the global share in 2011.
With these end-of-year figures, it's clear Samsung and Apple will continue to duke it out for supreme world reign over smartphones, especially with the incoming anticipation of a new iPhone this year and on the strength of the Samsung's Galaxy line, which includes the well-reviewed Nexus and the S II. We've even seen Samsung set up the rivalry with its commercials mocking the Apple fanboy culture.
Strategy Analytics' executive director of global wireless practice, Neil Mawston, told msnbc.com that "the iPhone 4S model drove Apple volumes in developed regions like the U.S., while the iPhone 4 drove sales in emerging markets such as China," (which overtook the U.S. in the fall as the world's largest smartphone market). He also informed us that, "For Samsung, the Galaxy family is by far its most popular range worldwide, especially the S II superphone."
The Boston-based research and consulting firm is also keeping an eye on Nokia for a possible comeback as its partnership with Microsoft blooms in 2012 with the big 4G LTE Windows Phone push in the U.S. and Canada. Some market researchers are so keen on the Lumia line, especially the 900, that they think Windows Phone may be able to overtake Apple for the No. 2 spot in mobile operating systems by 2015. But for now, Nokia has to dig out of hole in which its market share dropped to 16 percent in 2011, about half of what it was in 2010 (33 percent).
More stories:
- Report: Android dominates US smartphone market
- Almost half of US mobiles now are smartphones
- China overtakes US as largest smartphone market
- Report: Samsung new No. 1 smartphone vendor, over Apple
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