• January 17, 2013

The astounding growth of smartphones isn’t about to ebb anytime soon. But the biggest beneficiary won’t be Apple, the company that invented the category.

According to ABI Research, smartphone shipments will account for 50% of all handset shipments by 2014, and will be the largest handset segment in the world. (By 2018, ABI predicts, smartphones will account for 69% of all handset shipments.)

Samsung will be the biggest beneficiary of this growth, not Apple, according to ABI. According to the company, Samsung has grown its smartphone market share from 8% in 2010 to more than 30% in 2012. Apple’s market share will peak this year at 22%, and remain flat through 2018, according to ABI.

“Barring an unlikely collapse in Samsung’s business, even Apple will be chasing Samsung’s technology, software, and device leadership in 2013 through the foreseeable future,” says senior analyst Michael Morgan, in a statement.