Canalys: APAC becomes world’s largest smartphone region

Asia-Pacific has become the world’s largest smartphone region, according to new figures from Canalys. Smartphone shipments in the region reached 37.3 million in the first quarter, a year-on-year growth rate of 98 percent, putting it ahead of EMEA for the first time since Q3 2007.

Asia-Pacific growth was driven by countries such as China, South Korea and India, which all recorded triple-digit growth. Overall, worldwide smartphone shipments grew 83 percent to 101.0 million units. Though its market share shrank from 39 percent a year ago to 24 percent in Q1 2011, Nokia held onto its worldwide leadership position with 24.2 million units shipped – a 13 percent year-on-year rise.

Asia-Pacific became the largest region for Nokia, accounting for 53 percent of its overall shipments, overtaking EMEA by more than 3 million units. Canalys’ country-level data shows that the vendor remains number one in 28 countries, including mainland China.

At the platform level, Google’s Android OS led the market for the second quarter running with 35.7 million units shipped, increasing its share to 35 percent driven by HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson, with each vendor shipping well over 3 million devices.