Apple is now No.4 largest handset vendor by market share

Apple had overtaken RIM but still far behind Nokia, Samsung and LG. IDC has published its rankings for handset shipments in Q3, and it shows Apple overtaking Research In Motion to become the fourth biggest mobile phone vendor in the world.

The top three places are unchanged: Nokia remains at No.1 with 32.4% market share, followed by Samsung - 21% share and LG - 8.3% share. Apple's 14.1 million units shipped in Q3 gives it a 4.1% share globally, followed by RIM's - 3.6%. Sony Ericsson falls out of the top five for the first time since 2004.

LG had a particularly poor Q3, with unit shipments falling by 10.1% year-on-year, and its market share falling from 10.6% to 8.3% accordingly. Nokia's modest YoY shipments growth of 1.8% was behind Samsung (18.6%), RIM (45.9%) and Apple (90.5%), which is why Nokia's market share fell from 36.5% to 32.4%.