A whopping 1.6 billion mobile phones were shipped (not sold) globally in 2012, 700 million of which were smartphones, reports Engadget, citing new data from research from Strategy Analytics. Last
year, Samsung shipped 213 million devices -- more than any other phone maker. Conversely, Apple, the smartphone pioneer saw less growth in 2012 than in 2011 and may hit a plateau in market share in
2013, according to ABI Research.