Digitimes is reporting a few interesting numbers for the mobile industry, particularly Apple’s smartphone business. Their research concludes that total smartphone shipments in 2011 will quite possibly exceed 462 million units. This is a 60 percent increase from 2010, in which 288 million units were shipped.
Apple alone is expected to ship over 86.4 million units in 2011. This means that the iPhone would represent an impressive 18.7 percent of all smartphone shipments this year. Last year, Apple shipped 82 percent less, at 47.5 units. On the other hand, Digitimes forecasts that Nokia smartphone shipments will decrease to 74.4 million in 2011, down from over 100 million last year. These statistics, if proven true, mean that Apple would become the number one smartphone vendor in terms of shipment volume.
The numbers regarding Apple are no doubt taking into consideration the imminent release of the iPhone 5. The company is rumored to announce the new product at some point during this month, with a possible release in October. Not only is anticipation for the iPhone 5 extremely high, but it’s likely Sprint will carry the iOS device for the first time. These factors both point to huge demand for Apple smartphones.
Chinese brands Huawei and ZTE will supposedly see large growth in popularity. Digitimes estimates the former company’s shipments will rise over 400 percent this year. While Google’s operating system is very much on the ascendancy right now, it’s clear iOS still drives plenty of demand.
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