Canalys released the fourth quarter of 2010 figures for smartphones. We've pulled the data regarding U.S. smartphones.
The United States continued its reign as the largest country market in
terms of shipments, at more than double the size of the Chinese smartphone market. RIM recaptured first place from Apple as a smartphone manufacturer. Apple
experienced its usual US seasonal dip, and RIM benefited from the first
full quarter of shipments for the BlackBerry Torch. HTC successfully
maintained its third-place ranking in the US for the third consecutive
quarter, driven by its speed to market with the latest Android updates
and new Windows Phone 7 devices.
Android was by far the largest smartphone platform in the US market in
Q4 2010, with shipments of 12.1 million units - nearly three times those
of RIM's BlackBerry smartphones. Windows Phone 7 devices appeared too late
in the quarter to take full advantage of holiday season purchasing. As a
result, Microsoft lost share in the United States, from 8% in Q4 2009
to 5% in Q4 2010.
Shipments of Android-based smartphones reached 32.9 million, while
devices running Nokia's Symbian platform trailed slightly at 31
million worldwide.
The fourth quarter also
saw the worldwide smartphone market continue to soar, with shipments of
101.2 million units representing year-on-year growth of 89%. The final
quarter took shipments for the year to fractionally below 300 million
units, with an annual growth rate of 80% over 2009 (see table below).
In Q4 2010, volumes of Google OS-based smartphones (Android, OMS and
Tapas) were again boosted by strong performances from a number of
vendors, notably LG, Samsung, Acer and HTC, whose volumes across these
platforms grew 4,127%, 1,474%, 709%, and 371% respectively year-on-year.
HTC and Samsung together accounted for nearly 45% of Google OS-based
handset shipments.