Apple may or may not be releasing the white iPhone 4 some time in spring 2011, but in the mean time, they're not having any issue moving plenty of the other iPhone models. According to a new report from the IDC, Apple has become the fourth-largest phone vendor in the world by moving 14.1 million iPhones during the third quarter of 2010. This puts them ahead of RIM, who shipped 12.4 million phones during Q3, but still far behind some of their other competitors. LG is in third place with 28.4 million phones shipped, Samsung has taken second place by sending out 71.4 million handsets, and, of course, Nokia has taken the gold medal by shipping a whopping 110.4 million phones.
Nokia is still blowing away the competition, moving more handsets than the entire "Other" category combined. Samsung isn't doing bad, either, with a market share of 21 percent. Probably the most impressive third quarter of 2010 belonged to Apple, who managed a 90.5 percent increase in number of phones shipped when compared to Q3 2009. Then we have RIM, who finished fifth in the phone shipment race. Fifth place may not sound spectacular, but 12.4 million phones shipped in a span of only three months, a record for the company is quite a feat. Plus, they were able to knock off Sony Ericsson, who failed to appear on this list for the first time since 2004. As for smartphones as a whole? The IDC predicts that that market will grow up to 55 percent year-over-year.
