Apple's Share of Global Mobile Phone Market Hits 5%

091933 idc 1q11 phones

Research firm IDC today released results for global mobile phone sales for the first quarter of 2011, showing Apple hitting a 5% share of the overall market for the first time. The data also shows Apple regaining the fourth-place position it lost to ZTE last quarter.

Apple maintained its number 4 spot on IDC's Top 5 list thanks to a record quarter for unit shipments. The company posted the highest growth rate of the worldwide leaders. Apple's results were buoyed by strong sales on Verizon Wireless and additional carrier deals; the company is now on 186 carriers operating in 90 countries. The iPhone once again sold particularly well in developed economic regions of the world, such as North America and Western Europe.

Apple's 114.9% year-over-growth easily led the major mobile phone manufacturers and enabled the company to grow its share of the market from 2.8% to 5.0%.

Apple's initial goal when it launched the iPhone in 2007 was to capture 1% of the global mobile phone market, a figure met with some skepticism by the company's competitors. Apple of course quickly reached that goal and has continued to post strong unit sales growth as consumers have increasingly turned to smartphones for their mobile device needs.

In support of IDC's numbers, Strategy Analytics released a similar report today showing Apple with 5.3% of the overall worldwide mobile phone market for the quarter. The primary difference between the two reports comes from IDC counting approximately 20 million more handsets in the "Others" category than Strategy Analytics.

A report released just yesterday by NPD showed Apple taking 14% of the total mobile market in the United States, but the company of course holds a lower share of the worldwide market due in part to the premium pricing its devices carry in many countries where consumers are more likely to purchase low-end phones on prepaid plans.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
macOS Tahoe 26 Thumb

Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.2 With Edge Light

Friday December 12, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1. Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings. macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Leak Reveals Foldable iPhone Details

Monday December 15, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station. According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
ipados 26 1 slide over

Apple Releases iPadOS 26.2 With Multitasking Improvements

Friday December 12, 2025 10:09 am PST by
Apple today released iPadOS 26.2, the second major update to the iPadOS 26 operating system released in September. iPadOS 26.2 comes a month after iPadOS 26.1. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. iPadOS 26.2 continues with the multitasking improvements that were added with iPadOS 26.1. You can now drag and...

Top Rated Comments

SandynJosh Avatar
191 months ago
I only know 2 people with an iphone all the rest have either the HTC Desire or Desire HD. Once I showed my friends my Desire they all switched. Same as my work too. Nearly everyone had an iphone then I brought my HTC into the office and within a few weeks everyone had a Desire :D

HINT: When lying, always make it a believable lie.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
acidfast7 Avatar
191 months ago
In Stockholm and Frankfurt, I hardly see any iPhones. Also, I hardly see any iPads. I do however see a ton of MacBookPros but almost no MacBookAirs.

I find both places very style-centric (Stockholm especially), but also somewhat frugal. I don't think that iPhone will reach as large of a market share in Europe due to the high upfront cost of an iPhone (659€/799€ for 16GB/32GB).

Actually, it's running joke that you can identify an American by iPhone/iPad (aside from the loud inane conversation).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WolfXL Avatar
191 months ago
Guess not, if I was selling Fruit on my market stall and someone said, what's your top/best selling item of fruit and I said, oh, Apple's Apples are the No.1 and No.2 best selling pieces of fruit I have, they outsell everything.

Oh, so you sell loads of Apples the guy asks?

No, I don't sell that many Apple's compared to my other fruit.

the bloke leave with a confused look on his face.

Just because someone is confused by math, doesn't make the math wrong.

To use your fruit example. Say your top 2 selling fruits were green and red apples. 30 red, and 20 green each a day. Which would account for 50 apples a day. Now to keep things simple, let's say you also sell 95 other fruits that aren't apples, but you only sell 10 of each of them a day.

Now, in a day, you sell 3 times as many red apples as you do to all non-apple fruits, and you sell 2 times as many green apples as you do to all non-apple fruits. They are your top 2 sellers by far....but they still only account for 5% of your fruit sales.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bpaluzzi Avatar
191 months ago
The problem for Apple is that Android handsets come out, which are the very top and, as you say the same price, then a while later a new top Android phone comes out, so the old one gets offered to people at a lower price, then an even newer Android handset comes out, so the original one is now offered at a very lower price and so it goes on.

So, people can may a LOT for an iPhone or get an Android phone that was the very best a while ago for much less.

Apple don't tend to let old models slip down the pricing ladder in this way, hence they will always lose out from amass of sales that are at low to medium price bracket, and that's where the bulk of the consumer market is.

Apple are the only ones that lose out due to this policy.

And to be honest, a lot of people don't know, care, understand. the iPhone is just another phone, like and Android phone. they are all the same thing, you can get apps and games on them all and they are all phones.

Lots of people just don't care.

Cool story. Only problem, of course, is the facts.

iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS are the #1 and #2 selling handsets.

Not big on business sense, are you? Apple doesn't "let old models slip down on pricing" because they don't have to. Do you think other companies reduce prices on their phones out of the goodness of their heart? They lower the prices because nobody wants them.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Small White Car Avatar
191 months ago
I'm still amazed that we're at the point where we can measure Apple on the 'mobile phone' scale and not just the 'smartphone' scale.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OllyW Avatar
191 months ago
Grabbing 5% of the total phone market with an expensive product is amazing in such a short time. :cool:
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)