Smartphones Outsell PCs For the First Time Ever, Tablets Lead Growth by a Long Shot [REPORT]
For the first time in history, smartphones are outselling PCs worldwide.
Canalys released its full report on smartphone and PC shipments for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the numbers are incredible. Over 158 million smartphones were shipped globally in Q4, blowing away PC shipments—which include notebooks, netbooks, and even tablets! PCs sold a combined 120 million—58 million notebooks, 29 million desktops, 7 million netbooks, and almost 27 million tablets. Many people don't bundle tablets in with PCs, so if you take them out, smartphone shipments nearly doubled PC sales, 158.5 to 93.7. Wow.
SMARTPHONES VS PCs
Smartphone growth, at nearly 57%, also easily trounced PC growth. While notebook shipments managed to grow 7%, desktop shipments actually declined almost 4% and netbook shipments plunged more than 32%. But the real stunner was tablets, whose growth made even smartphones pale in comparison—the emerging segment saw shipments skyrocket a staggering 186%.
The amazing rise of smartphone sales, which grew 63% overall in 2011, means that they outsold PCs for the full year, a remarkable feat. 488 million smartphones shipped, compared to just 414 PCs—or 351 minus tablets, which grew a mind-boggling 274%.
The only product segment to decline in 2011 was netbooks, dipping a sizable 25%. Desktops and notebooks held steady, growing 2% and 7% respectively.
Vendors shipped 158.5 million smart phones in Q4 2011, up 57% on the 101.2 million units shipped in Q4 2010. This bumper quarter took total global shipments for the whole of 2011 to 487.7 million units, up 63% on the 299.7 million smart phones shipped throughout 2010. By comparison, the global client PC market grew 15% in 2011 to 414.6 million units, with 274% growth in pad shipments. Pads accounted for 15% of all client PC shipments in 2011.
“In 2011 we saw a fall in demand for netbooks, and slowing demand for notebooks and desktops as a direct result of rising interest in pads,” said Chris Jones, Canalys VP and Principal Analyst. “But pads have had negligible impact on smart phone volumes and markets across the globe have seen persistent and substantial growth through 2011. Smart phone shipments overtaking those of client PCs should be seen as a significant milestone. In the space of a few years, smart phones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition. The greater availability of smart phones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for Internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices.”
PLATFORM BY PLATFORM
Breaking the world's smartphone market down by platform, Google's Android shipped 82 million units in Q4, a growth rate of 149%; Apple's iOS shipped 37 million, a growth of 128%; and Symbian shipped 18 million, a decline of 41%. BlackBerry dropped nearly 10% to just 13 million global shipments in the quarter, while Windows Phone fell off the map, dropping 14% to an insignificant 2.5 million.
Apple’s impressive end to the year resulted in it becoming the leading smart phone and client PC vendor in Q4 2011, with shipments of 37.0 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs. It also smashed the record for the most smart phones shipped globally by any single vendor in one quarter, beating Nokia’s previous record of 28.3 million shipped in Q4 2010. Moreover, Apple’s performance meant that it displaced Nokia, for the first time, as the leading smart phone vendor by annual shipments. Apple shipped 93.1 million iPhones in 2011, representing growth of 96% over 2010. The iPhone 4S benefitted from pent-up demand resulting from the launch coming in October rather than June, but Apple’s overall volume was also buoyed by continued shipments of the now more aggressively priced iPhone 4 and 3GS models.
For the full year, Android shipped 238 million units, a growth rate of 244%, while iOS shipped 91 million units, a growth rate of 96%. Windows Phone was down by more than 43%, while RIM's platform actually managed to grow shipments by 5% overall.
Samsung also finished 2011 with a flourish. It shipped 35.3 million smart phones in Q4 2011 under its own brand, bringing its total to 91.9 million for the year, compared to just 24.9 million in 2010.
Despite a disappointing set of financial results, Nokia’s smart phone performance in the fourth quarter gave cause for optimism. It shipped 19.6 million smart phones, down 31% from the record high of a year earlier, but up 17% on Q3 2011. The total was helped by 1.2 million and 0.6 million shipments of its Windows Phone and MeeGo-based products respectively, as well as improved Symbian Belle volumes from competitively priced devices such as the Nokia 500, 700 and 701. Its total smart phone shipments for the year came in at 77.3 million globally.
“There is no denying that RIM has had a tough year,” said Canalys Principal Analyst, Pete Cunningham. “But when you consider that it is transitioning to a new platform it has done well to increase volume while remaining profitable; the latter point being something that many other vendors struggle with. The appointment of Thorsten Heins as CEO will bring new energy to the company while ensuring that it does not radically deviate from its overall strategy in this transitional year. However, 2012 will become even more competitive and RIM needs BlackBerry 10 devices out there to ensure it retains its status as a major player.”
