Smart mobile device shipments top 300 million

Total smart mobile device (notebook, tablet and smartphone) shipments for this year’s first quarter exceeded 308.7 million units, according to a report from Canalys. This represents a year-on-year growth of 37.4 per cent.

The report also shows that, in terms of OS vendors, the Open Handset Alliance continues to dominate, with Android the OS of choice on 59.5 per cent of all smart mobile devices shipped.

Of the other OS vendors, Apple holds a 19.3 per cent share in the smartphone and tablet PC markets, while Microsoft’s 18.1 per cent share reflects its relative strength in the PC market but continued challenger status in the smartphone space.

Of the three, the tablet market continues to grow the fastest. Worldwide, tablet shipments grew 106.1 per cent year-on-year to 41.9 million units. Though Apple continues to lead in the tablet space with a 46.4 per cent share, it lost share to its Android-based rivals for the third consecutive quarter.

The study found that smartphone shipments came in at around 216.3 million for the quarter, maintaining the strong growth (47.9 per cent this quarter) that the market saw throughout 2012. Android handsets accounted for 75.6 per cent of total smartphone shipments, and Samsung dominated once again, growing its volume by 64.3 per cent year-on-year, which helped its market share exceed 32 per cent. In contrast, Apple saw modest annual growth (6.7 per cent) in its smartphone shipments — the lowest level since the launch of the original iPhone back in 2007.

Huawei, LG and ZTE completed the top five smartphone vendors, all with less than five per cent market share each. Once again, Huawei and ZTE benefited from their strength in their home market, with 84 per cent and 71 per cent of their shipments respectively in mainland China.

Notebook PC shipments amounted to 50.5 million units, declining by 13.1 per cent during the quarter compared with the same period in 2012. The biggest decline was in western Europe, where shipments fell by 25.2 per cent on an annual basis.