According to Juniper Research, the number of smartphone shipments exceeded 200 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, with the annual total reaching 671 million. This represents an approximately 42 per cent year-on-year growth.
The research firm says that Samsung continued its high growth over the year shipping 63 million smartphones and accounting for over 30 per cent of all smartphone shipments in the quarter. Sales of the Galaxy S 3 device drove the company?s growth, with sales surpassing 40 million in November 2012.
Meanwhile, Apple posted lower than expected iPhone sales at around 47.8 million. The firm is of the opinion that with Samsung leading the market, Apple will need to continue focusing on innovation, whilst retaining its brand leadership.
Also, Nokia shipped 6.6 million smart devices in the fourth quarter, with the new Lumia device line still to make a significant impact with shipments of 4.4 million. Nokia?s Symbian based handsets experienced a substantial decline, reaching 2.2 million. Overall, the Finnish company made a $3 billion loss for the year, but posted a profit of $586 million for the fourth quarter of 2012. Smartphone shipments reached 35 million in 2012 compared to just over 77 million in 2011, a 54 per cent decline.
Research In Motion?s recent results are expected to account for almost 6.7 million smartphone shipments for the fourth quarter and over 31 million for the year. Juniper Research says that with the release and launch of the BlackBerry 10, the Canadian company will struggle to gain back a significant market share in 2013.
With the introduction of new smartphones and tablets, Huawei posted sales revenues of over $35 billion. The company introduced over 23 models of smartphone devices and is estimated to have shipped almost 20 million smartphones in 2012. While other smartphone vendors, including LG and ZTE, have managed to maintain their smartphone market shares, they are still facing challenges when competing against the premium brands. Similar to Samsung, these vendors are introducing a number of new product ranges and marketing activities to maintain their visibility in the market.
