IDC: Samsung now own commanding lead of global phone market, almost double units of closest contender

Samsung’s share of the global mobile phone market grew by 22.9 percent in the past year, from 93.6m to 115m units, according to new data from the IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

By the end of the first quarter this year, Samsung shipped more phones than the next four vendors combined. Samsung’s domination is largely a result of making handsets for all market segments: smartphones for all market segments, from budget to premium, as well as featurephones, which until recently held the majority of the market share. It was only in the first quarter of this year that smartphones overtook featurephones for the very first time, grabbing 51.6% of the market.