• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 7, 2011

Smartphone shipments worldwide increased 87% in the fourth quarter to 100.9 million from a year ago, fueled by surging Android phone and iPhone sales. For 2010, total shipments rose 74.4% to 302.6 million, according to the latest data from technology research firm IDC.

Both Samsung and HTC saw triple-digit growth in the fourth quarter, with unit sales up 439% and 258%, respectively, by following a strategy of selling multiple Android devices. Samsung enjoyed the biggest gain in market share among the top five smartphone vendors in 2010, nearly tripling its share from 3.3% to 9.6%. Read more here.