Apple becomes world's largest smartphone manufacturer

According to a report by the International Data Cooperating Apple is now the world's largest smartphone manufacturer. Apple has shipped 20.3 million iPhone phones by Q2, 2011 and is up 141.1 percent since last year's 8.4 million. It's international market share stands at 19.1 percent compared to the 13 percent from last year.

Meanwhile Samsung has shown the most progress with an increase of 380.6 percent compared to last years figures. They now command 16.2 percent of the smartphone market. Nokia has dropped to third place with a 30 percent reduction in shipments and RIM is down to forth despite shipping more units that last year. HTC holds the fifth position, shipping 11.7 million units worldwide with an increase of 165.9 percent compared to last year and holding 11 percent of the market share. The other manufacturers who include Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson hold the remaining 26.4 percent of the market.

So even though Android hold the crown as most popular mobile operating system, Apple is the most popular manufacturer. Even while sharing the Android marketshare with HTC and other manufacturers Samsung has proven that it can even overtake Apple in the near future. We have to remember that Samsung devices run Android, Windows Phone and Bada which gives it's users a range of possibilities to choose from. With Nokia's partnership with Microsoft promising Nokia Windows Phone devices in the coming months it will be interesting to see how the statistics stand in the next quarter.