For first time ever, smartphones outsell PCs in Q4 of 2010

By on Feb 8, 2011 at 11:31 AM
mobile February 8, 2011

If you’re a hardware manufacturer trying to figure out where to delegate R&D funds, you might want to pay attention to this. According to an article on ReadWriteWeb, smartphones outsold personal computers in the fourth quarter of 2010, marking the first time such an event has occurred. Analytics firm IDC provides the data, and indicates that smartphone OEMs sold 100.9 million units worldwide — an 87.2% jump year-over-year — while PC OEMs sold 92.1 million units worldwide — a 5.5% increase year-over-year. The report lists the top five smartphone vendors of 2010 (by units shipped and market share) as: Nokia, Research In Motion, Apple, Samsung, and HTC.

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  • Anonymous

    Apple shipped 47.5 million iPhones???

    I call bullshlt, everyone keeps suggesting that no one is buying iPhones anymore because they are all buying Samsung Android phones with 2.1 or 2.2 that will never see a new port.

    • Anonymous

      They may have shipped 47 M, but right below, Samsung +HTC+Others = More androids than you can throw a stick at…

      • Michael Scrip

        – “Samsung +HTC+Others = More androids than you can throw a stick at…”

        That’s true…

        But when it’s time for HTC to announce some numbers… they can’t say “oh we’re doing pretty good when combined with Samsung and others…”

        HTC, Samsung and “others” are competitors. It must really burn HTC and Samsung up when Apple can sell twice as many phones as them but they only offer basically 2 models of phones. And Apple makes 50% of ALL the money in the mobile market with just those 2 models of phones too.

        You’re right… the “Android OS” is doing great… and that’s great for Google and their “pennies-per-click” model of business. And for Google… marketshare is the only way they make money.

        But I never understood this marketshare battle between Android and the iPhone….

        If I had a t-shirt company… I could give away millions of t-shirts. You could say I dominate the t-shirt market.

        But, that’s not a sustainable plan in the long run.

      • Chut Pata

        Simple. The innovation always captures the market of the who are willing to pay extra for innovation. Sony always did that. Then they become legends and new comers take a long time before they become legends themselves. BB was once a legend in smartphones before iPhone came in, and now it is Android with Windows coming behind and saying, “Hey! Remember, I am also playing”. BB market share tells that all, “Legend would remain a legend, even if the followers outgrow them many times over”.

      • http://twitter.com/Syk0Matik420 Beefy McBigDick

        ive said it before, i will say it again. the ONLY reason iphones sell so well is this : alot of technologically “stupid” people in the world who need their device to be incredibly simple and bare bones. the people new to smartphones mostly get an iphone to start. when they grow bored with that, after only 2 months or so, they move on to bigger & better things. the day we bought androids ,, we all took our old iphones down to the sandpiit and covered em in homemade napalm and watched em burn. iphones are good for first time smartphone users or for people who arent very smart to begin with. but once you learn how to operate a smartphone, you should buy something else.

    • Derail Doax

      I can’t believe retards still buy Iphones when Android phones have passed them up in features and specs since the Droid 1. The American public are a good example of the success of when you bombard simple minded people with hip advertisements. Even simple minded people feel smart with an Iphone cus the one button doesn’t confuse them.

  • Max

    I see RIM job losing market share. Apple outsells RIM job in 2010. Doubles sales to surpass. BB Morons cling to dying outdated handset. Stuck in ‘physical keyboard only’ mode.

    • Todd

      I like QWERTY keyboards on mobile devices. Doesn’t matter who’s it is, you can type 30-50% faster on them than a virtual board. For me, I need to be able to hammer out emails etc… quickly. And with 100+ emails that I respond to daily, it’s a big time saver.

    • Chut Pata

      If you ask the Android fanboys, they have the same view of you Apple fanboys. Fact is, all the Apple innovation can not take away the trust BB users have on it, and all the farefare of Android can not deter Apple fanboys from clinging to older technology. Yes iPhone is outdated compared to T-bolt, Bionic, and Atrix.

  • Anonymous

    (Analytics firm IDC provides the data, and indicates that smartphone OEMs sold 100.9 million units worldwide)

    Not counting Nokia an others, the total is still more then a 100 Mil.

    • Anonymous

      I must be missing something there, I just don’t get 100 million quote.

      My math fail?

  • Tanviper

    This is BS. Cell phones cost $200 and pretty much are disposable. You buy a PC ( that can cost $1000′s)and keep it for years, unlike a cell phone.

    If you’re going to compare apples to apples, make sure its a fair comparison.

    • Anonymous

      Actually most smartphones cost $500+. You only pay 200 because they make you sign a contract for 2 years. But if you buy them outright, they are at least 500

      • Michael Scrip

        – “Actually most smartphones cost $500+. You only pay 200 because they make you sign a contract for 2 years.”

        That’s true…

        But if you’re gonna pay for cell service anyway… why not let them knock off $300 up front?

      • Chut Pata

        Outside North America, that is the case. Within the USA, some companies like Metro PCS do that.

      • Tanviper

        true, but how many people actually pay full price for their cell phone? I never have. If PC makers offered to knock off 60% of the price of a new PC every few years if you signed a contract with them, then people wouldn’t keep their computers for 5+ years before replacing them. Again, these article isn’t a fair comparison.

      • Tanviper

        this article isn’t a fair comparison**

      • Chut Pata

        You pay full price!!! You just dont know that because it is included in your monthly plans!!!

  • Anonymous

    RIM is the future (of nothingness)!

    • Todd

      How old are you? 12? 13? What can the iPhone or Android do that the BlackBerry can’t?

      • Chut Pata

        There is one thing BB can not do that iPhone and Android can do, get hacked! lol

  • http://twitter.com/rdubmu Robert

    HTC numbers include Windows Mobile and WP7. Same with LG, and Samsung.

  • Anonymous

    I wish they’d breakdown their list to be platform specific. It’d make more sense to know how many Android vs Java vs iOS vs Windows CE/WP7 vs Symbian40/60/^3 there are.

    • Vic

      Exactly! Totally agree!

  • http://twitter.com/Syk0Matik420 Beefy McBigDick

    i knew it was only a matter of time. now if they could only smartphone browsers as good as pc browsers, I dont think anyone would buy pc’s.

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