Another quarter and another IDC report that shows the movements in the mobile marketplace. At a high level, Samsung and Apple are still going strong but HTC and Nokia are finding the waters a bit more troubling as their shipments have declined considerably YOY.
The chart below tells the entire story, Samsung is growing (or at least shipping) at a tremendous rate, likely because of the Samsung Galaxy SIII, and Apple is still growing despite its iPhone 4S becoming a bit long in the tooth. On the other side, HTC and Nokia are still having a tough time in the mobile segment with both vendors dropping double digits when compared to the same quarter last year.
One of the highlights from this, likely to the chagrin of Cupertino, is that Samsung is building on its lead over Apple as the world"s largest smartphone vendor. While being the biggest is not always the best, Apple wants to be number 1 in this segment but can"t quite seem to catch Samsung in this footrace. Notably, Apple and Samsung are in a vicious court battle over intellectual property.
Apple is expected to ship its next iPhone, the iPhone 5 (or possibly the new iPhone) this Fall and this will certainly help it boost its shipments but who knows if Samsung has another blockbuster device up its sleeve.
Source: IDC