Nokia tops global handset shipments

Nokia is still the world’s number one mobile phone vendor and shifted 417.1 million handsets globally in 2011, placing it well in front of Samsung, Apple and BlackBerry.

Total mobile shipments for 2011 were up by 14 per cent year-on-year, Knowyourmobile.com reported, citing the market research firm Strategy Analytics.

"Despite continued macroeconomic difficulties in major markets like Western Europe, global handset shipments grew a reasonable 11 percent annually to reach 445 million units in Q4 2011," said Alex Spektor, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics.

He added: "Apple was the star performer, shipping 37.0 million iPhones worldwide and capturing a highest-ever 8 percent market share. Apple’s growth was fuelled by intense demand for its refreshed iPhone 4S, as well as the availability of three generations of iPhones at a variety of price points at operators like AT&T in the United States."

But despite this phenomenal performance, it still wasn’t enough to knock Nokia off the top spot.

"Nokia’s global handset shipments declined 8 percent annually to 113.5 million units in Q4 2011. Volumes were buoyed by the sales of Nokia’s low-end dual-SIM models in emerging markets like Southeast Asia, but were a little soft overall, as initial shipments of Microsoft Lumia phones could not offset declining Symbian sales,’ said Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics.

He added: "hot on Nokia’s heels, second-ranked Samsung captured 21 percent share with shipments of 95.0 million units. Samsung’s 18 percent annual growth was fuelled by robust shipments of its broad Galaxy-branded 3G portfolio, headlined by the Galaxy S2 superphone."

So the top three global handset makers plays out as follows: Nokia, Samsung and Apple.

But what’s most impressive about Apple’s placing is that it only makes one handset, the iPhone. Sure the company has many models – the iPhone, 3G, 3GS, 4 and 4S – in circulation, but it definitely doesn’t do ‘budget handsets’ like Nokia and Samsung.
These ‘budget handsets’ are extremely popular in developing countries and are the sole reason why Nokia and Samsung are still above Apple. Quantity over quality wins out again.