Apple’s Share Slipped as 251 Million Smartphones Shipped in Third Quarter

October 28, 2013 by Paul Ausick

Galaxy S4
Source: courtesy of Samsung
Global shipments of smartphones grew 45% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2013 to a record 251 million units. The quarter also marks the first time total shipments topped a quarter billion.

Samsung Electronics topped the list with a record 88.4 million units shipped and a record 35% market share. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), which reported earnings earlier Monday afternoon, reported sales of 33.8 million units and market share of 13%. Huawei Technologies shipped 12.7 million units to retain the third largest share of the market with a 5% share.

Both Samsung and Huawei market share in the quarter compared with the same quarter in 2012. Apple’s share slipped from nearly 16% a year ago to 13% this year. Apple’s volume grew by 26% year-over-year, while Samsung’s shipment volume rose by 55% and Huawei’s volume grew 67%.

The data comes from research firm Strategy Analytics’ Wireless Smartphone Strategies service and is published on the company’s blog.

The only other companies named in the results were LG Electronics and Lenovo. Once-powerful industry leaders Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) are lumped together in the “Others” category. Neither has a market share above Lenovo’s 4.3%.

The following chart from Strategy Analytics tells the tale:

STratAnaly-10-28-13-smrtphn ships

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