iPhone takes 11 per cent of 1Q09 smartphone sales

Apple sold 3.9 million handsets during the quarter to more than double its market share, says Gartner. Smartphone sales hit 36.4 million units in 1Q09, representing a 12.7 per cent increase from 12 months earlier.

In fact, smartphone sales represented 13.5 per cent of all mobile device sales in 1Q09, compared with 11 per cent in 1Q08.

Gartner attributes the trend to good sales at Research In Motion and Apple, with the latter more than doubling its market share from 5.3 per cent to 10.8 per cent.

This means Apple is now the third-ranked smartphone manufacturer by volume.

Nokia continues to boss the market, however, with a 41.2 per cent share from nearly 14 million units sold.

This compares to 14.6 million units and a 45.1 per cent share in 1Q08.

Symbian accounted for 49.3 per cent of worldwide smartphone operating systems (OS) market share in 1Q09, down from 56.9 per cent a year earlier.

The full 1Q09 global smartphone rankings are as follows:

Company, Sales (units 000), Share (%)
Nokia, 14,991.2, 41.2
Research In Motion, 7,233.6, 19.9
Apple, 3,938.8, 10.8
HTC, 1,957.3, 5.4
Fujitsu, 1,387.0, 3.8
Others, 6,896.4, 18.8

Source: Gartner