Smartphone shipments rocket to 328 million

IDC data cites China manufacturers and reduced phone prices as key to growth

Global smartphone shipments rocketed to 328 million units in Q3 2014 thanks to strong growth from Chinese smartphone makers pushing into emerging nations and Western markets.

Analyst house IDC reported smartphone shipments rising from 261.7 million units in Q3 2013 to 327.6 million in Q3 2014, marking a 25.2 percent year-on-year rise, in its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report.

This was also an increase on the 301.3 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2014. IDC programme director Ryan Reith highlighted growth in emerging markets and work by manufacturers to reduce handset costs as key reasons for the growth.

"Despite rumors of a slowing market, smartphone shipments continue to see record-setting volumes," he said.

"We've finally reached a point where most developed markets are experiencing single-digit growth while emerging markets are still growing at more than 30 percent collectively. In these markets, smartphone price points are making mobile computing possible where we once expected feature phones to remain dominant."

The report highlighted particularly strong results from Chinese phone makers.

Xiaomi grew to be the third biggest phone maker during the period having shipped 17.3 million units, up a staggering 211.3 percent year on year. It now has a 5.3 percent market share.

Lenovo took fourth place after shipping 16.9 million units, marking a 38 percent year on year increase with a 5.2 percent market share. However, with Lenovo having completed its purchase of Motorola, it now technically has third place ahead of Xiaomi with a market share of 8.7 percent.

IDC mobile phone team research manager Ramon Llamas said their growth is proof that there is still room for new players to enter the mobile market.

"This shows that there is still room to compete in this market, whether it be in the low end as Lenovo has done [or] at the high end where Xiaomi competes," he said.

Meanwhile, Apple enjoyed a 16.1 percent increase in iPhone shipments to 39.3 million units, cementing its place as the second largest smartphone vendor in the world.

Despite maintaining its position at the top of the smartphone heap, Samsung was the only major manufacturer to see a decrease in shipments during the period, down 8.2 percent year on year to 78.1 million units. This slump was underlined by its latest financials showing a 60 percent decrease in profits.

The smartphone shipment growth follows a push by the UK and European Commission to increase worker mobility.

The UK government announced plans to fit 1,000 public buildings, including libraries, museums and sporting complexes with free WiFi hotspots as part of efforts to make the UK as digitally connected as possible on 30 October.

For more information on the mobility, visit the Intel IT Center.