While cellphone shipments have hit one billion in a year previously, smartphones in particular have not, until now. According to the IDC, smartphones shipments surpassed one billion for the first time in 2013. Having said that, another research group called Strategy Analytics feels that the IDC's numbers are a little off and that smartphone shipments didn't quite hit the one billion milestone. Strategy Analytics says shipments topped out just shy of one billion at around 990 million, still quite an impressive number.
Here's a look at the IDC's top 5 smartphone vendors for 2013:
Whether smartphones hit the one billion mark or not, shipments in 2013 were up 40% compared to 2012 according to the IDC, with Samsung and Apple leading the charge once again. Strategy Analytics reported a growth of 41% for last year.
Based on the IDC's latest report, Samsung and Apple held the first and second positions with a little over 31% and 15% market share respectively. While Apple maintained its second place position, its share dropped from 18.7% to 15.3%. The numbers show somewhat significant market share growth from companies like Huawei, LG and Lenovo, all of which gained nearly a point or more in 2013. According to the IDC, growth of these companies is due to low cost, entry level devices aimed at countries like China and India.
Fourth quarter numbers essentially panned out similar to the yearly reports, Samsung landed on top but showed generally flat growth, with Apple's share slipping from 21% down to just under 18% year over year. Again, Lenovo, LG and Huawei showed nearly a point or more of growth in Q4 2013 compared to the same time the year prior.