Taiwan-based makers or handsets or components, based on orders received, have estimated that Apple, RIM and HTC will ship, respectively, 19-20 million, 14-15 million and 8-9 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2011, together sharing more than 50% of global smartphone shipments of 80-85 million units.
Apple is also expected to replace RIM as the second-ranked smartphone vendor with a 20-25% global market share, followed by RIM, Samsung Electronics and HTC, commented the sources, noting that Samsung and HTC are expected to each grab 10% or more.
But some other sources in the industry also have questioned if the estimated market share is too high for each vendor, as it means that these vendors and Nokia (30%) will account for 90% of the global smartphone market in the first quarter of 2011.
Projected smartphone shipments by vendor, 1Q11 (m units) |
Vendor | 1Q11 | 4Q10 |
Apple | 19-20 | 15-16 |
RIM | 14-15 | 13-14 |
HTC | 8-9 | 9-9.5 |
Sources: Industry sources, compiled by Digitimes, December 2010