IDC: iPhone Global Market Share Jumps to 16.1% in Q1 2010

Apple’s share of the global smartphone market grew to 16.1% in the first calendar quarter of 2010, according to new numbers released Friday by research firm IDC. The company said that Apple’s 8.8 million iPhones sold during the quarter represent 131.6% year-over-year growth, and resulted in increased market share from 10.9% in Q1 2009 to 16.1% in Q1 2010.

The market as a whole grew a whopping 56.7% to 54.7 million smartphones sold by all vendors, 87.3% of which were sold by the top five vendors in the industry. Nokia remained the top smartphone vendor, with 39.3% market share, unchanged year-over-year. Research in Motion remained number two, with 19.4% of the market, with Apple coming in at number three.

That’s well ahead of Android OS device maker HTC, which was number four with 4.8% of the market. Motorola rounded out the top five with 4.2% market share.

With growth numbers so high, it’s no surprise that smartphones also encroached on overall cell phone sales numbers. IDC said that smartphone sales represented 18.8% of all cell phones sold around the planet, up from 14.4% in the March quarter of 2009.

The research firm also pointed out that the impressive growth figures for the industry serve to highlight just how bad the economy was in the first quarter of 2009.

“The smartphone market’s growth is impressive too when contrasted to the 38% growth in the fourth quarter,” the company said in a statement, “which is typically the strongest of the year. This demonstrates the tremendous potential of the market and the depths to which it plunged in the first quarter of last year.”

Top Five Converged Mobile Device Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q1 2010 (Units in Millions)

Vendor

1Q10 Volumes

1Q10 Market Share

1Q09 Volumes

1Q09 Market Share

1Q10/1Q09 Change

1. Nokia

21.5

39.3%

13.7

39.3%

56.9%

2. Research In Motion

10.6

19.4%

7.3

20.9%

45.2%

3. Apple

8.8

16.1%

3.8

10.9%

131.6%

4. HTC

2.6

4.8%

1.5

4.3%

73.3%

5. Motorola

2.3

4.2%

1.2

3.4%

91.7%

Others

8.9

16.3%

7.2

20.6%

23.6%

Total

54.7

100.0%

34.9

100.0%

56.7%