Digitimes Research: Apple to lead in 2011 smartphone shipments

Global smartphone shipments for 2011 will reach 462 million units, rising 60% from the 288 million shipped in 2010, according to Digitimes Research. Apple is expected to overtake Nokia as the top ranking vendor in terms of shipment volume in 2011, while Huawei Technologies will enjoy robust growth in shipments enabling the China-based company to close its gap with Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

Apple's smartphone shipments are projected to top 86.4 million units in 2011, up 82% from 47.5 million units in 2010. In contrast, Nokia's smartphone shipments in 2011 will decline to 74.4 million units from over 100 million in 2010, said Luke Lin, analyst for Digitimes Research.

Huawei and ZTE will be two rising stars in the global smartphone market in 2011, Lin indicated. Huawei, in particular, is expected to enjoy an over 400% rise in shipments, Lin added. Both China brands are benefiting from explosive growth in demand for Android devices, close ties with China's local mobile operators as well as competitive prices of their products.

Among the world's top-5 smartphone brands, third-ranked Samsung Electronics will enjoy the highest shipment growth in 2011, Lin estimated. The Korea-based vendor's smartphone shipments are projected to climb 191.3% to 67 million units.

But Huawei's shipment growth will represent the highest percentage growth among the world's top-10 smartphone brands in 2011, Lin said.

Combined shipments from the world's top-5 smartphone companies in 2011 are forecast to exceed 333 million units, which will account for 72% of total units expected to be shipped. The proportion came to as high as 85% in 2010, when the top-5 vendors shipped a total of 244 million units, Lin observed.