IDC: Apple Ultra LG MING Sing into the world's third largest mobile phone maker

February 3 news, according to foreign media reports, according to data released by market research company on Thursday, Apple's iPhone sales in the fourth quarter of 2011 increased by 128% year-on-year. The launch of the iPhone 4S in October last year was the main reason that Apple surpassed LG and ZTE as the third largest mobile phone manufacturers in the world.

IDC senior analyst Kevin Restivo said in a statement that the mobile phone market showed an unusually low growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2011. This shows that the mobile phone market will not avoid the impact of the global macroeconomic weakness. The introduction of high-end mobile phones such as the iPhone 4S has boosted sales of smartphones. Therefore, the growth rate of the entire market dropped to the lowest level since the global economic recession in the third quarter of 2009.

IDC data shows that Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of 2011, bringing Apple’s global mobile phone market share to 8.7%, more than double the 4% market share in 2010. Apple's iPhone sales in 2011 were 93 million, and the market share reached 6%, an increase of 96% from 2010.

The global mobile phone market continues to be dominated by Nokia and Samsung Electronics. Nokia sold 113 million mobile phones in the fourth quarter and Samsung Electronics sold 97 million mobile phones. Samsung Electronics' global mobile phone market share is 20%, an increase of 21%. Nokia's global mobile phone market share was 30.7%, a decrease of 8.2%.

Overall, global mobile phone sales in the fourth quarter of 2011 were 427.4 million, an increase of 6.1% year-on-year, which exceeded IDC’s original forecast of 4.4%. In the fourth quarter of 2010, global mobile phone sales were 402.8 million. In 2011, mobile phone manufacturers sold 1.54 billion mobile phones, an increase of 11.1% over 2010.