Samsung comfortably maintained its perch atop the smartphone market in the third quarter while one-time leader Nokia dropped out of the top five. According to the latest data from IDC, Samsung had a 31.3% share of global smartphone shipments, followed by Apple at 15%, Research in Motion (4.3%), ZTE (4.2%), and HTC (4%).
This is the first time since the fourth quarter of 2009 no single manufacturer has held more than 31% market share, with Samsung and Apple dominating the category. The rise of those companies, along with high-growth players like Huawei in China, pushed Nokia out of IDC’s ranking of the top five smartphone makers since it began in 2004.
"Nokia's share losses have meant gains for competitors," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst at IDC, in a statement. Total smartphone shipments in the third quarter rose 45.3% to 178 million, slightly above IDC’s forecast of 45.2%.
The worldwide phone market overall grew 2.4% in the quarter, with 444.5 million phones shipped, up from 434 million a year ago.