IDC has just released its numbers for the first quarter of the year and Samsung and HTC have posted the largest growth out of the top five manufacturers. While both still trail Nokia, Apple, and RIM, we’re sure it primarily has Android to thank for the massive growth this past quarter.
Nokia remains the leader for the quarter with 24.2 million handsets shipped, but Apple is close to closing the gap by shipping 18.7 million handsets. Nokia may ship more smartphones than anyone right now, but even at second, Apple makes the most money, which isn’t anything we haven’t heard before. We still have to wait and see if the Nokia/Microsoft proves to be fruitful, as it needs to be for Nokia to remain the leader.
RIM is solidly placed in the third position and it shipped 13.9 million Blackberry handsets in the quarter. It is being trailed by Samsung, which shipped 10.8 million. While HTC sits at number four, the manufacturer has broken previous shipment volume records with 8.9 million handsets.
While Samsung and HTC are the fourth and fifth largest handset makers in the report, both have seen the largest growth from the same quarter last year than any other company on the list. Samsung saw an insane growth of 350% year over year and HTC grew 229%. While both manufacturers have Android to thank for this growth, both HTC and Samsung have released Windows Phone 7 handsets and Samsung also has its Bada-based handset, the Wave.
Handsets like the Thunderbolt and the upcoming Galaxy S 2 will likely increase shipments for both handset makers for this quarter, with more smartphones on the way.
Overall, the entire smartphone market grew nearly 80% since the first quarter of 2010, and, with more and more compelling products from these top dogs, we don’t expect to see this type of growth slow down anytime soon.
With so many great handsets coming down the pipe in the next couple of months, it’ll be a tough choice to decide which smartphone will be the right one for you when you have so many choices at your fingertips.
