iPhone Head for No. 1 This Year

According to IDC, the worldwide mobile phone market grew 19.8% year over year in the first quarter of 2011 (1Q11) fueled by high smartphone growth, especially in emerging markets, and gains made by market challengers. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 371.8 million units in 1Q11 compared to 310.5 million units in the first quarter of 2010.

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q1 2011 (Units in Millions)
	Vendor					Q1 2011 Shipment Volumes			Q1 2011 Market Share			Q1 2010 Shipment Volumes			Q1 2010 Market Share			Year-over- year Change
	Nokia					108.5			29.2%			107.8			34.7%			0.6%
	Samsung					70.0			18.8%			64.3			20.7%			8.9%
	LG Electronics					24.5			6.6%			27.1			8.7%			-9.6%
	Apple					18.7			5.0%			8.7			2.8%			114.9%
	ZTE					15.1			4.1%			10.4			3.3%			45.2%
	Others					135			36.3%			92.2			29.7%			46.4%
	Total					371.8			100.0%			310.5			100.0%			19.8%
	Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, April 28, 2011

For smart phone market, the latest IDC report shows iPhone was shipped 18.7 million iPhones in Q1 2011, more than double last year's shipments, to overtake RIM's BlackBerry and come within 5.5 million units of Nokia's Symbian smartphones.

The data also shows Android phones Samsung and HTC shipments increased 350% and nearly 230%, respectively, year over year, albeit from smaller bases.

CNN Philip Elmer-DeWitt predicted that unless Nokia's manages the transition from Symbian to Microsoft Windows Phone 7 more smoothly than expected, Apple could overtake it before the end of the year.