Samsung, the world’s second-largest maker of wireless handsets, said it sold 10 million Galaxy S phones in 2010 after introducing the device in June.
But Apple outsold Samsung handily, by selling 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter ending in September.
Samsung was the fourth behind Nokia, Apple and Research in Motion in global smartphone sales in the third quarter, according to IDC. Nokia’s total shipments increased 4% year on year to 17.2 million units in the 3rd quarter, but market share slipped to 34% due to slower growth in its smartphones compared with the overall market.
“2010 was the year of the smartphone, and its popularity certainly did not wane during the holiday shopping season,” said Andy Zeinfeld, CEO of Simplexity, which tracked their top 10 best-selling cell phones during the 2010 holiday shopping season. Their sales figures may not include Apple’s popular iPhone, but it is interesting.
Here are their top sellers:
- HTC Evo, (on Sprint’s network)
- Droid Incredible by HTC (Verizon)
- Samsung Captivate (on AT&T)
- Motorola Droid X (on Verizon)
- Samsung Intercept (on Sprint)
- BlackBerry Torch 9800 (AT&T)
- Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (AT&T)
- Droid 2 Global by Motorola (Verizon)
- Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint)
- Samsung Fascinate(Verizon)
“We predict that many of the trends that began to emerge during the last half of 2010 will continue to gain popularity in 2011,” Zeinfeld said. “However, ours is an extremely competitive and dynamic market, so we also expect to see the emergence of new technology and new trends in the coming year.”
James Martin has the Top Mobile Trends of 2011
- Tablet Mania Will Accelerate
- Laptops Will Look More Like Netbooks
- Smartphones Will Get Smarter
- Smartphones Will Be Just About Everywhere
- 4G Network Availability Will Continue to Grow
- Social Media Use Will Be More Mobile
- Location-based Marketing Continues Its Popularity
- Advertising on the iPad
eMarketer estimates the iPad will account for 90 percent of the 10 million tablets sold in the U.S. in 2010 and 80 percent of the 24 million tablets purchased in the U.S. in 2011. Forrester Research predicts U.S. tablet sales will surpass netbook and desktop sales by 2015.
Close to 59 percent of more than 2,300 developers surveyed in mid-September by mobile software platform provider Appcelerator and research firm IDC believe Android is the operating system to beat over the long haul, compared with 34.9 percent favoring Apple’s iOS. The survey notes that 72 percent of developers feel Android “is best positioned to power a large number and variety of connected devices in the future,” as opposed to 25 percent anticipating iOS will dominate.
