Apple smartphone market share to slip to 18.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the 22.6 percent Apple achieved in Q4 2012, due to Android’s dominance and the importance of emerging markets, said ABI Research.
The dip is despite strong growth in the third quarter of 2013 (Apple’s fourth quarter) and Apple guidance on 53 million iPhones to be shipped in the fourth quarter (Apple’s first quarter).
Meanwhile, IDC anticipates strong momentum going into the fourth quarter, and another record quarter and year in the worldwide smartphone market. The smartphone market will be poised to reach one billion units for the year. It’s a significant milestone considering the market shipped just half a billion units in 2011.
ABI Research, in its smartphone market share report, said 438 million handsets and 244 million smartphones shipped during the third quarter of 2013. Samsung smartphone market share rose to 35 percent, while Apple share remained flat at 14 percent.
Windows Phone achieved 165 percent growth year-on-year, with Nokia accounting for 95 percent of that shipment volume.
Supported by strong Android shipment growth from Huawei, Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Samsung, Android reached 80.6 percent shipment share in Q3. Windows Phone had 4 percent market share, over BlackBerry’s 1.5 percent.
According to IDC, smartphone market grew 38.8 percent in the third quarter. Vendors shipped 258.4 million smartphones in Q3.
In the worldwide mobile phone market (inclusive of smartphones), vendors shipped 467.9 million units in Q3 compared to the 442.7 million units in Q3 2012, representing 5.7 percent growth.
