Figures from the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker show that the global smartphone market is expected to grow by 49.2% this year. That’s over four times faster than the overall mobile phone market.
More than 450 million smartphones are expected to be shipped in 2011, compared to 303.4 million units shipped in 2010.
Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, said “Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional. Last year’s high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from what we saw in 2010.”
The company says Android is expected to become the leading smartphone operating system this year, moving up from second place. It also expects Windows Phone to stop losing market share - and to become the number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android by 2015.
Worldwide smartphone operating system Market Share
| Mobile OS |
2011 share |
2015 share |
| Android |
39.5% |
45.4% |
| BlackBerry (RIM) |
14.9% |
13.7% |
| iOS (Apple) |
15.7% |
15.3% |
| Symbian |
20.9% |
0.2% |
| Windows Phone/Mobile |
5.5% |
20.9% |
| Others |
3.5% |
4.6% |
[Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 29th March 2011]