Smartphones have been getting increasingly popular in recent years as they become both more capable and more affordable, and now an research firm is claiming that the smartphone hit a major milestone in the first quarter of 2013. According to new stats from IDC, worldwide smartphone shipments were higher than worldwide feature phone shipments for the first time ever in Q1 2013. The firm's numbers show that, in total, there were 418.6 million phones shipped in the quarter. Of that figure, the IDC says that smartphones accounted for 216.2 million units (51.6 percent).
There are some details that aren't mentioned in the IDC's report, such as what exactly it categorizes as a "smartphone," but today's stat is still an impressive one. Smartphones used to be a tool used mostly by businesspeople, but as the devices become more and more accessible, consumers are increasingly buying smartphones and relying on them as the main device in their lives. That's a trend that doesn't appear to be changing any time soon, especially as devices continue to get cheaper and more capable thanks to higher-end components trickling down to more hardware.
Looking at some of the manufacturer-specific stats provided by IDC, the firm reports that Samsung led all other manufacturers in both total phone shipments (115 million) and smartphone shipments (70.7 million) in Q1 2013. In fact, Samsung is said to have shipped more smartphones in Q1 2013 than Apple, LG, Huawei and ZTE combined. LG saw by far the most year-over-year growth in Q1 2013, though, with its smartphone shipments growing 110.2 percent from the year-ago quarter. Following LG is Huawei with 94.1 percent growth, Samsung with 60.7 percent, ZTE with 49.2 percent and Apple with 6.6 percent. More details can be found by navigating your pointer to the IDC link below.
