Judging by the worldwide shipments of smartphones for the 4th quarter of 2012, the devices of Chinese vendors are beginning to enjoy great popularity. So far, only Apple and Samsung are ahead of them, according to Canalys.
In total, 438.1 million mobile phones were shipped in the 4th quarter (these are both ordinary handsets and smartphones). 216.5 million of them were smartphones. 69% of smartphone sales are Android–based devices. Last quarter, the share of Google’s OS was higher – 74%. Its share was snatched by iOS, increasing its presence on the world market from 15% to 22%.
During the quarter, Samsung increased smartphone sales by 78% compared to the previous quarter, and Chinese companies Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo “only” by a third. The latter, in fact, allowed Chinese dragons to capture as many as three positions in the top 5 most popular smartphone manufacturers, including Sony.