Global smartphone shipments hit 1.4 billion in 2015

In the year 2015, according to the IDC, a total of 1432.9-million units were shipped worldwide, recording the highest year of shipments in history, up by 10.1% from the 1301.7 million units shipped in 2014.

Smartphone shipments worldwide hit a record 1.44 billion units a year ago, according to new figures published on Thursday, but the major vendors will not be celebrating: figures from late 2015 show that demand is slowing as the market matures.

Huawei became the fourth mobile phone maker to ship more than 100-million units in a year, joining Apple, Samsung and Nokia.

"With initial Apple shipment estimates all over the map, Apple assured the public that demand for its premium smartphones is still alive and kicking", Anthony Scarsella, IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker research manager, commented. Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi rounded up the top five with 8.1%, 5.1%, and 4.6% share, respectively.

Samsung's global smartphone sales surged in the fourth quarter as Apple shipments stagnated, but Samsung's full-year sales rose only at a low-single-digit percentage rate while Apple's full-year sales surged at a double-digit rate, market research companies report. IDC notes that for Q4 a total of 399.5 million smartphones were shipped, which is a 5.7-percent increase compared to the year before. In 2016, the global leader aims to increase its shipments of mid-range smartphones especially in the emerging markets as it looks to strengthen its position in such markets.

China's largest smartphone maker Huawei Technologies is the most favorite candidate to lead the smartphone shipments in 2016, according to industry sources. While this marked a new high for Apple and equated to an 18.7-percent market share, it only represented a 0.4-percent level of year-over-year growth.

Huawei also saw the strongest year-on-year growth (37 per cent) among the top five players.

The overall smartphone market will remain hard throughout this year but we still see growth in the lower-end segment, although competition will be tougher, Lee Kyeong Tae, vice president of the mobile communications business, said on the call.

For the longest time, the smartphone market has been dominated by Samsung and Apple, with LG and HTC scratching around the edges.

Countries that Samsung and Apple used to count on to drive revenue - think China - are making cheaper phones that do more or less the same things their products do for a fraction of the price. Meanwhile, Apple picked up the second spot with its iPhones raking up 74.8 million units being shipped, and a market share of almost 19%.

Lenovo took fourth place on IDC's list with 5.1 percent of the market, followed by Xiaomi with 4.6 percent. Huawei is one of the few Chinese brands to achieve global diversification, with nearly half of its shipments going outside its home market.

Source: Global smartphone shipments hit 1.4 billion in 2015