Apple Becomes No.1 Smartphone Vendor; Samsung Surges and Nokia Slumps

Apple took the top spot in the global smartphone market in the second quarter of 2011 as the iPhone maker posted record shipments, while Nokia, the former leader, dropped to the third place in the face of declining demand and sales, research company IDC said.

According to IDC's latest quarterly report, Apple shipped 20.3 million units during the three-month period, up from 18.7 million in the first quarter and 8.4 million a year earlier. That brought the iPhone maker, who ranked No.3 with a 13.0 percent share last year, up to No.1 with a 19.1 percent share. Given the momentum Apple is riding, it would be a matter of time before it surpasses Nokia's quarterly mark of 28.1 million units, IDC added. And with the iPhone 5 coming this fall, the company will very likely maintain its strong sales for the second half of the year.

Samsung made the biggest leap among all vendors, as it jumped from No.4 to the No.2 spot in just three months, holding a 16.2 percent market share at the moment. The Korean company showed a tremendous year-over-year growth of 380.6 percent by shipping 17.3 million devices during Q2 2011, compared to merely 3.6 million a year ago. The strong number was mainly contributed by its popular Android-based Galaxy S smartphones, which sold 3 million units worldwide within two months.

Handing its leadership over to Apple, Nokia slipped to the third place with major slumps in both sales and market share. Currently in the midst of transition from its Symbian platform to Windows Phone and MeeGo, the Finnish company saw a 30.4 percent drop in shipments from last year's 24.0 million units to 16.7 million units. Its market share also shrank significantly from 37.3 percent to 15.7 percent. IDC's analysts anticipated that the phone maker will likely continue to struggle throughout 2011 and 2012.

Following behind Nokia is Research In Motion, who dropped from the third to the fourth during the April-to-June period. Although the Canadian smartphone maker posted a 10.7 percent year-over-year increase in sales volume (from 11.2 million to 12.4 million units), its market share dipped from 17.4 percent to 11.6 percent. IDC noted that demand for BlackBerry devices remained healthy in the face of competition, but the company must refresh and update its high-end enterprise-grade lineup in order to stay competitive in the long term.

HTC remained the fifth, yet it witnessed the second biggest growth in sales (a rate of 165.9 percent) among all vendors. With 11.7 million units sold during the quarter, the Taiwanese company now commands 11.0 percent of the market, trailing closely behind Research In Motion. It has a good chance of reaching its sales goals of 13 million units for the next quarter and 50 million units for the year, according to IDC.

Overall, the smartphone segment enjoyed strong growth in the first half of 2011, and will probably maintain its upward movement for the rest of the year as more flagship models are expected to arrive.

Tags: Apple iPhone and iPad Accessories, Samsung Accessories, Nokia Accessories, BlackBerry Accessories, HTC Accessories, Motorola Accessories, LG Accessories
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HTC Reports Record-High Results for Q2 2011

Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC has turned in their financial report for the second quarter of 2011, and once again, the company posted an amazing quarter with impressive growth.

Beating industry expectations, its revenue for the April-to-June quarter amounted to NT$124 billion (US$4.3 billion), a 104.1 percent increase over the same period in 2010, and 19.4 percent more than last quarter. Its net income, which totaled NT$17.52 billion (US$607 million), also exceeded analysts' estimates and was more than double from a year earlier. The company said it shipped 12 million devices during the quarter, surging 124 percent year on year and 25 percent quarter on quarter.

According to HTC, the majority of the smartphones it sold were running on Google's Android platform. While high-end models like the Sensation and the EVO 3D strengthened its position in the super-phone segment, entry-level devices like the Wildfire S, the ChaCha (known as the Status in the U.S.) and the Salsa helped widening its smartphone portfolio. The manufacturer also released the Flyer tablet this quarter, though it did not provide the exact shipment figure.
 

HTC continued to see a solid rise in sales in the North American and European markets, and the Asian region performed particularly well. China, described as the "standout market" by the company, contributed the biggest part to the growth.

For the third quarter, HTC projects its revenue to increase 80 percent year on year to around NT$137 billion (US$4.75 billion). Its shipment is expected to reach 13.5 million units, representing a 98 percent growth over Q3 2010's figure. Six to eight new smartphones and tablets, either from Android or Windows Phone, will be launched in the second half of the year. Moreover, the company plans to develop its own content services to enhance its smartphone offerings.

If all goes as planned, we will have a lot to look forward to from the Taiwanese manufacturer in the near future, and it will likely continue to ride its wave to success.

Tags: HTC Accessories, HTC Sensation 4G Accessories, HTC EVO 3D Accessories, HTC Wildfire S Accessories, HTC Status Accessories, HTC EVO View 4G (HTC Flyer) Accessories
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Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (R800) – A Chic Hybrid of PlayStation Portable and Android Smartphone

The world's first-ever PlayStation certified smartphone, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (R800), has landed in Verizon to deliver an immersive gaming experience to mobile gamers. Aside from Sony's 'PlayStation Suite' initiative, the device is packed with a variety of Android 2.3 features and multimedia goodies, which promise to fill your days with all sorts of entertainment.

The essence of the Xperia Play is its dedicated slide-out gaming controls, consisting of a digital D-pad, two analog touch pads, two shoulder buttons and the iconic four-icon keys. Above the game pad is a 4.0" capacitive multi-touch screen display with 16 million colors and 480 x 854 pixels. With such a unique design, the smartphone is inevitably on the bulky side, measuring 4.68" high by 2.44" wide by 0.63" deep and weighing 6.17 ounces.

Equipped with Qualcomm's 1.0-gigahertz chip and an Adreno GPU graphics processor, the Xperia Play offers super-fast graphics for smooth 3D gaming. You will find seven games titles pre-loaded on the phone – FIFA 10, Sims 3, Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior and so on – and you can always get more from V CAST Apps Store.

The updated Android OS, dubbed Gingerbread, has brought some improvements to the navigation and user interface. You will find all the usual Android content and services, like the music and video players, the Webkit 5 browser with Flash Player 10.1, social network integration, Google Search, Google Voice Search, Google Talk, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps with Navigation, and Android Market. In addition, Verizon offers a number of pre-installed applications, including 3G Mobile Hotspot, Skype Mobile, VZ Navigator, Visual Voice Mail, Backup Assistant and My Verizon Mobile.

As for the email and messaging abilities, the smartphone supports instant messaging, threaded text messaging, multimedia messaging, as well as personal and corporate email for Exchange ActiveSync along with other POP3/IMAP accounts.

The Xperia Play boasts two cameras, including a rear 5.0-megapixel one with auto-focus, LED flash and video recording capabilities, plus a front VGA one for video chats. There are also a 3.5mm headphone jack, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS navigation and Bluetooth. The phone itself only offers 400MB internal memory, but you can expand the capacity with an additional microSD card up to 32GB.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY is a compelling Android device dedicated to gameplay. If you intend to spend a lot of time on gaming, this smartphone would certainly appeal to you.

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