According to data from Berg Insight, smartphones equipped with dual-core processors reached 60 million units worldwide in 2011. The first such smartphones were unveiled at the beginning of 2011 with sales starting in February 2011. One year later, several handset makers are expected to announce their first smartphones with quad-core processors, eventually pushing dual-core phones to the mid-range segment.
Overall, last year smartphone sales grew 59% to 470 million units worldwide. High-end smartphones with unsubsidized retail prices above 400 EUR and low-cost devices priced at around 100 EUR contributed to most of the growth in the smartphone category in 2011. Sales of high-end devices doubled from about 75 million units in 2010 to an estimated 150 million units in 2011. As for the low-cost smartphones, their sales increased from approximately 10 million units in 2010 to 70 million units in 2011.
When it comes to unit sales for the full year, Samsung tops the list with 20.2% market share, just ahead of Apple with 19.8%. Nokia was the only major vendor that experienced a decline in unit shipments in 2011 and slipped to third place with 16.4% of the market. As for RIM, it too continued to lose market share, but managed to stay ahead of HTC. In terms of revenues, Apple remained the clear leader with a value market share of 38% in 2011.