Smartphone shipments pass one billion units in 2013

The worldwide smartphone market shipped 1.004 billion units last year, up by 38.4 per cent from the 725.3 million units in 2012, according to estimates from IDC.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, vendors shipped a total 284.4 million smartphones worldwide, up by 24.2 per cent from a year earlier. 

Smartphones accounted for 55.1 per cent of all mobile phone shipments in 2013, up from 41.7 per cent in 2012. In the broader mobile phone market, global shipments reached 1.822 billion units in 2013, up by 4.8 per cent from a year earlier. Fourth-quarter shipments reached 488.4 million, an increase of 0.9 per cent year-on-year. 

Samsung added one per cent point of market share in smartphones, to strengthen its lead at 31.3 per cent of shipments. It also grew by almost one per cent in the broader market, taking 24.6 per cent of the total mobile market. Nokia's share of the total market dropped to 13.8 per cent from 19.3 in 2012, and it did not make the top five smartphone makers. 

Apple was in second place in smartphones, although its share dropped to 15.3 per cent from 18.7 in 2012. Apple took 8.4 per cent of the total mobile phone market. LG ranked fourth in the total market with a 3.8 per cent share and fifth in smartphones with 4.8 per cent, both up on a year earlier. 

Huawei came third in smartphones, growing its share to 5.8 per cent, and Lenovo moved to fourth in the smartphone rankings, taking 4.9 per cent of shipments.