Gartner just released its annual numbers for worldwide mobile phone sales to end users in the year known as two thousand nine. Looking at smartphone OS market share alone, Gartner shows the iPhone OS, Android, and RIM making the biggest gains (up 6.2, 3.4, and 3.3 percentage points from 2008, respectively) at the expense of Windows Mobile (off 3.1 percentage points) and Symbian (off 5.5 points). Although Gartner says that Symbian "has become uncompetitive in recent years," (ouch) it concedes that market share is still strong especially for Nokia; something backed up by Nokia's Q4 financials and reported quarterly
smartphone growth by 5 percentage points. Regarding total handsets of all classifications sold, Nokia continues to dominate with 36.4% of all sales to end users (down from 38.6% in 2008) while Samsung and LG continue to climb at the expense of Motorola (dropping from 7.6% to 4.5% of worldwide sales in 2009) and Sony Ericsson. See that table after the break or hit up the source for the full report.
posted February 23rd 2010 5:05AM
Nokia had a very strong Q4. It looks like they've turned a corner.
@xbit but still waiting for that symbian update
@xbit
Nokia still smashes the competition but they will slide if they don't release some competitive handsets by the end of the year.
@xbit
Not if I read the article correctly:
"Windows Mobile (down to 3.1%) and Symbian (down to 5.5%)"
It looks like Symbian has gone from being half the market to having 5% of it.
Well, either that or Engadget doesn't know what the word "to" means.
@xbit
I bet this year symbian will lose another five percent, heck I bet they will lose eight percent. Nokia is in trouble, people here are not lustering over their phones and it doesn't look like anything will change.
Poor winmo, if it wasn't for 7 series I would have said this was the year they officialy died but it looks like they have a light at the end of tunnel.
Wait does that mean they died then????? :/
@xbit Seeing symbian developing S^3 is just exciting to see. This report sure is a winner. The future of symbian: http://bit.ly/symbian-future-info
@Savage3006 How much you wanna bet? So you bet Nokia's marketshare will go down another 5-8%? If it goes down less than that, remains flat or increases, I win?
I love these odds.
@xbit I don't see how they've turned a corner when they're still losing market share (down from 52% to 46%). Sure, they still have a huge piece of the pie, but the others are catching up rapidly. Nokia's got to step it's game up.
@xbit
I think that Nokia still have issues to address. The utterly dominate the mid tier of smartphones but are up against tough competition at the high end where the iPhone currently takes the crown.
Saying that, the split of Nokia smartphones is interesting - roughly half and half number and N/E series - showing that they are still shifting a fair amount of higher end units.
But, yeah, Symbian^3 needs to deliver and MeeGo is kind of a wildcard just now.
RIM have done well. Spectacularly well in fact. This seems to get overlooked by the tech press a bit.
What?? You mean there isn't one iPhone to rule them all? Shocking!
@Tekky that not the problem they need some good mid and high range handsets on carriers
Having 15% market share (units) off one smartphone is massive... I think one thing people can take off Apple is to have few flagship devices rather than many which ends up disorientating the customer.
@(Unverified)
apple has a bit over 2% (can't be arsed to do the math) market share, you're looking at os's
@mrqs
I was talking about smartphone market share
@(Unverified)
ah, i was under the impression that second table was about smartphones as well; nm
@(Unverified)
Indeed. It's especially impressive since the iPhone is a rather expensive device (even tho it's very well done for what it is). For this reason I think it's slowly reaching a "ceiling" of potential users.
Not many people outside of the US are capable or willing to shell out $700 for a phone. Or $70 a month for two years, which is even worse. That's HUGE money.
That's why Nokia etc. will still be there for the masses, since you can get a decent smartphone (even with a better camera and some other stuff) for about one third the price of an iPhone.
@Endadget
You make good points. I like Nokia's strategy too - they are emphasising their ability to provide for all users. Maybe this is something that Apple should consider in a similar way to their iPod ideology.
@(Unverified)
Well actually non of the Americans are ready to pay the actual price of the phone. When example in North Europe +70 of phones are bought unlocked ;)
But you are right. While N97, N97 mini where big seller for Nokia and cost 500-600 euros they sold something like 3-4 millions. 5800 that costs 300 euros have sold +10 million.
Compare this to N95 time that costed 700-900 euros and sold 17 million alone(was 40% of Nokia's profits in one quarter).
After Symbian^3, Symbian^4 and MeeGo will have MUCH better picture of how will Nokia's very high end line do by end of this year.
Here's quote by Nokia exec from today just talking about this.
Anssi Vanjoki
Moreover they say, with regards to Symbian^1 / Symbian^1 family hardware platform, that "we stretched for too long, something which should not have been stretched.
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/11183_Video_Anssi_Vanjoki_on_the_N97.php
@Endadget You should really travel more. iPhones are selling for dirt cheap in Asia, you can pick one up on contract for as little as 8 bucks in Singapore. (I did) Even in London for that matter. And not even just that they're cheap, lots of people buy it off the shelf. Trust me when I tell you, the iPhone is just like the iPod. It was cool, and now everyone has one!
@Endadget
Well we certainly aren't paying that in oz. 49 plans, pre paid options. Businesses can buy them ouright from Telstra for $149 on standard business plans.
@(Unverified) I remember the unveiling of the iPhone and Sir Stevie was only hoping for 10% so they must be happy.
And WinMo, such a sad, sad fall. Well, not to me, but just saying...
@Endadget
The reason why Apple is so successful is because they're not converting people to their platform from other smartphones, they're selling smartphones to people who never knew they wanted them.
Apple's marketing machine is very impressive.
@Atkins
Phones like the N79 or the 5800, which you can get for around 200€. The cheapest 3GS (16GB) is still around 550€.
The Nokias even have a few more hardware related features, but I'll give the edge to the iPhone for the software/UI part (except for iTunes and media format compatibility unless jailbroken). All in all, different categories of phones, so it's hard to compare them (especially the N79). But given the significant price difference I'm not surprised that Nokias sell more.
And to those who said you can get the iPhone cheaper, you're probably right, I'm ignorant.. For subsidized I was looking at the US prices, but I guess that's the wrong thing to do, since their ripoff "smarthpone plans" distort the picture and make even the crappiest smartphones expensive.
@(Unverified) In the states, only one carrier sells the iPhone. They sell something like 4 models (iphone 3G in its respective sizes, and the iPhone 3GS in its respective sizes).
Furthermore, the iPhone 3G is the LEAST EXPENSIVE touch screen smartphone on the network with contract. Winmo phones are typically the most expensive.
@archkron You might notice that since pretty much everyone (except the dieing winmo and generic linux) is growing, this means they are all converting dumbphone users. Apple is just riding the wave along with everyone else.
@Atkins
Also the FM transmitter, the 5MP camera + flash, the front facing camera, the microSD slot, the TV out from the 3.5mm, better speakers cost some money. Maybe not as much as a touchscreen and faster CPU, but just saying.
As I've said different kinds of phones, but hey, both are considered smartphones, so there you have it.
@Atkins
I'm not sure I get your point with that.. maybe we've gone a bit offtopic.
My point was that the Symbian smartphones in general cost significantly less than the iPhone (while even offering some specific advantages, which some users might appreciate), therefore explaining the difference in market share. This would also hold true for used phones, there are many older Nokias which are way cheaper than 1st gen iPhones.
@Atkins
why not just look at the phone and really compare them. Where does the iPhone come on top besides a larger screen? Don't talk processor, since it may have a faster one, but so can a calculator. What does it do?
@Atkins said:
"Both the iphone and the N79 have internet. But how cool is browsing on this 2.4" non-touch screen? Is it really worth it to have a 5mp camera and check the photos on a 240x320 resolution?"
Most people don't buy a device to be cool. I was born cool, so any phone I use is cool. But if the screen size is all you can muster, there are better Symbian devices with larger screens than the iPhone. And you could always use TV out for browsing and photo sharing. I think people would find that much cooler, FYI.
@McPOW You obviously didn't catch the part of symbian and windows mobile losing ground did you. That's not gaining that's losing year over year.
@FCUK YOUR COLORING BOOK - How on earth does Apple have 3 smartphones? They have 2 very slight variations of the same phone, one of which has two different memory options. That all adds up to just one smartphone.
I love how most of those companies have more than one phone, and it would make sense for them to be up so high on the list.
But Apple only really had one phone, yeah different generations, but still the same phone, and yet, that one phone is making it up there all by itself, and no one is STILL able to make a phone that just blows everyone's mind and makes people completely forget their iPhones.
Wow.. seriously guys?
@MM OBVIOUS wow that's not nice? I'm sorry, why are you crying?
@mtnDewFTW Or another way to look at it would be that apple are incapable of more than one design and are having to give up 85% of the market due to that inability. ;-)
@mtnDewFTW I agree. iPhone is a huge phone. The rest of you people are just haters. iPhone has one phone and there killing it. I guarantee most of you haters would own an iPhone if it was offered on different us carriers. If iPhone was on sprint, verizon, and tmobile they would slowly dominate the smartphone market. So stop hating cause you guys are jealous that you can't get one. IPHONE FTW!!!
@mtnDewFTW , Mtmrob
Ok, you guys are just loking to troll with the "iPhone FTW", and "haters" nonsense, so I'll keep this simple.
#1 Apple invests more money in advertising and marketing than any other handset maker.
#2 They receive almost 100 million dollars worth of "free" advertising from places like Engadget with constant mentions and cameo placements in stories.
#3 Companies have finally figured out that you must dump money in marketing in order to connect and make a market impact (e.g. Motorola Droid).
#4 Marketing only "one" model is dangerous for Apple, because that model is 4 years old and virtually unchanged from the beginning. Their share in the US recently dropped slightly, and likely will continue as other companies start to actually promote their products more.
@LAY Wow so okay. You're saying that NO ONE actually likes the iPhone? It sucks and that every other phone is better than the iPhone? And everybody in this world, except for you, are all stupid and only get it because they see it on a billboard? And no one even truly likes it, we're all just zombies thinking that it's good.
Holy shit, this man just opened my eyes and made me realize how much of a dumbass he really is. Bravo sir, bravo
@LAY - How is the iPhone 4 years old when it was released in the summer of 07? That's just over 2.5 years according to my math.
@Atkins
Apple's strategy is not to be a boutique label for the lucky few, but rather to grow as big as they can while maintaining their extremely high standards. In PCs, this gave them 4 % market share last year, in MP3 players a lot, lot more (the are no published international figures for this market from Gartner or others, but e.g. Sony's last Annual Report implies that Apple have awhopping 70 % worldwide AFAIR). While the Mac is offered in an extremely hostile, monopolized market, where less than 25 % of customers would even consider a machine without Windows, Apple's adressable, potential market share for phones and mp3 players is probably about 75 %, basically everything above bargain basement. Of course, competition in phones is also a lot, lot better than in mp3 players. Nevertheless, one should never write off Apple as a high-end player only. If we look at the iPad pricing (or at the iPod nano prices in 2005 to 2007, which floored the competition), Apple can play the price card, and I wouldn't be surprised if they took issue with the fact that the iPad is suddenly cheaper than the iPhone and lower the entry price of iPhone from $499/€499 to $399/€399 this year (before subsidies) and go ever lower in the coming years, eventually matching Nokia's low-end smartphone prices.
What's that "Linux" with a 4.7% market share?
@vangrieg
Phones running LiMo and a variety of custom distros.
@xbit
Ah, the various ROKRs and RAZRs. It's a stretch to call them "smartphones", but OK.
@vangrieg
does maemo count?
@vangrieg
i think maemo is linux ...
@mrqs
Maemo is probably the "real" smartphone platform, so yes, it does count, but all the three dozen units sold don't change anything in the big picture.
@vangrieg
the LINUX numbers refer to platforms like that on the N900, OpenMiko, and Voda360. Remember, its a smartphone chart. I bet he's American. Most of us have no clue about smartphones...
@vangrieg - No one is calling a RAZR or ROKR a smartphone. Where did you get that??
@appleipad Yes, those things that can open multiple apps. For example, open a browser and navigate on the Nokia maps.
Oh what you know...
Interesting stats, I think that as phones become smarter and more advanced, Nokia will begin to lose even more market share. The Smart Phone market is currently growing faster than the Dumb Phone market. The big winners will be Apple, Google, Rim and after Windows Phone 7's release, Microsoft.
@sonola777
I agree that it's growing, but I don't think it will grow so much as to surpass the dumbphone/cheapphone market. I think there's a limit, especially if smartphones continue to be so expensive. Do your parents want a smartphone? Does an average phone user want a smartphone? (think of the female population for a second, they are even the majority out there;))
Engadget readers are a very specific segment of the population, they don't represent the real world.