Global smartphone sales up 54% in Q1 2010
Smartphone sales soared in Q1 2010, up 54% year on year to 55 million units, according to new research from Strategy Analytics.
The report shows that global smartphone sales increased in all regions, including North America, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, as retailers restocked and operators upgraded to 3G handsets.
The Asia Pacific and Africa Middle East regions also saw sales rocket in the three month period to the end of March 2010.
However, emerging markets showed the strongest growth, particularly in Latin America. RIM had a mixed quarter, meanwhile, losing share in North America while growing to a record high in Latin America.
In April, Analysys Mason predicted that the number of smartphones in use worldwide would grow at an annual rate of 32% between 2010 and 2014.
More than 50% of this growth will be generated in developing Asia-Pacific and Latin American markets, the company said.
According to comScore, the UK smartphone market has grown 70% over the past year to more than 11 million subscribers, while Deloitte figures show that approximately one in five UK consumers owns a smartphone.