IDC: Smartphone Market Will Increase by 55.4% in 2010

According to foreign media reports, market research company IDC released a report on Thursday that the global smartphone market will grow by 55.4% in 2010. In the report, IDC also pointed out that the market share of the Android operating system is expected to increase significantly in the next few years, but no operating system will rule the smart phone market.

According to IDC's report, the total volume of global smartphone shipments in the first half of this year reached 119.4 million, an increase of 55.5% over the same period of last year. IDC expects the total smartphone shipments for the year to reach 269.6 million units, up from 173.5 million last year. IDC's current forecast data is about 10% higher than the previous data.

IDC pointed out that with the iPhone 4, BlackBerry Torch and EVO 4G and other smart phones on the market, consumer demand has further increased. In addition, more Android smartphones will be launched this fall. This trend is the main reason why IDC increased its expected growth in smartphone shipments throughout the year.

IDC analyst Ramon Llamas stated that Android "does not follow the usual rules" in the smartphone competition. The analyst pointed out that because the Android operating system is very easy to use, and more and more user-selectable applications, so users have slowly recognized this operating system. In terms of Android mobile phone sales, HTC and Motorola have taken the lead. However, the analyst predicts that Dell, Kyocera, LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics' manufacturing capabilities should not be overlooked. It is reported that Samsung's Galaxy S series mobile phones have been supported by all four U.S. operators.

IDC currently expects that Android’s market share will increase to 16.3% this year; by 2014, Android’s market share will increase to 24.6%. The rising market share of Android will erode the market share of Symbian, BlackBerry and Apple iOS. However, even if Android has tremendous growth potential, no operating system will dominate the smart phone market. IDC currently expects Symbian to remain the leading smartphone operating system market by 2014, but its market share may decline by 18%. In addition, as Microsoft releases the Windows Phone 7 operating system at the end of this year, Microsoft’s market share in 2014 is expected to grow to 9.8%. The market share of BlackBerry will continue to remain stable, but Apple's iOS market share will decline from 14.7% this year to 10.9%.

In terms of the overall market, IDC expects the smartphone market to grow by 24.% in 2011; however, in the following five years, smart phone shipments will decline.