Samsung Takes Top Spot as Smartphone Market Grows 42.6% in the Third Quarter, According to IDC
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. November 3 2011 - The worldwide smartphone market grew 42.6% year over year in the third quarter of 2011 (3Q11), despite a slowdown within key mature markets.
Context & Ripple Effects
IDC's third-quarter read extends the year's arc: after Q1 2011's 20% mobile-phone growth fueled by the smartphone boom, the smartphone segment alone grew 42.6% year over year even with key mature markets slowing — enough volume for Samsung to take the top vendor position worldwide.
The milestone lands mid-patent-war. Samsung is seeking an Australian ban on the iPhone 4S built on source code and telco agreements it has demanded from Apple, has repeatedly used 3G standard-essential FRAND patents in attempts to shut down Apple products, and is scheduled to depose Jony Ive and other Apple designers by December 1, 2011. Its new Focus S for AT&T — near-twin of the Focus Flash with a larger screen and stronger camera — shows it pressing the hardware front at the same time.
First-order effects
- Samsung converts manufacturing scale into the #1 unit-share position in IDC's ranking, displacing the incumbent leaders in a quarter when headline growth masked a mature-market slowdown.
- Apple now faces a rival that pairs top volume with an active legal campaign — Australian iPhone 4S ban attempts, FRAND-based shutdown efforts, and discovery demands aimed at its design team.
Second-order effects
- Samsung's strengthened share position raises the stakes of the US litigation, where depositions of Apple designers are set for December 1, 2011 — settlement leverage moves with the ranking.
- Carrier shelf space becomes the battleground: Samsung's simultaneous Android and Windows Phone pushes (the Focus S and Focus Flash at AT&T) crowd rivals out of lineup positions just as mature-market growth tightens.
Third-order effects
- If growth keeps concentrating outside mature markets, vendor competition shifts from riding expansion to litigating for share, making standards-essential patent assertions a routine weapon of whichever vendor holds the volume crown.
- A leader competing across multiple operating systems and price tiers pressures smaller handset makers on both fronts at once — portfolio breadth, not single-device hits, becomes the structural requirement for staying ranked.
The trend: Smartphone growth is rotating toward markets that can still expand, while the contest for leadership migrates from product launches into standards-patent litigation.