Gartner has released its quarterly report on worldwide mobile device sales for the third quarter of 2012, and shows that Apple and Samsung still remain the top smartphone vendors, capturing 46.5% of the market between them.
While reporting an overall 3 percent decline in mobile phone sales, the smartphone category hit 169.2 million units in Q3, a 47 percent increase from the year-ago quarter. While Apple is still third to Samsung and Nokia for total mobile device sales, Samsung and Apple remain the top smartphone vendors collectively, capturing 46.5-percent of the market.
Nokia slipped from the No. 3 smartphone vendor in Q2 to No. 7 in Q3, opening up spots for RIM and HTC right behind Apple and Samsung to take the third and fourth spots respectively.
Gartner reports that Samsung widened its lead on Apple with almost 55 million smartphones in the quarter, riding high on demand for its Galaxy line of devices. Apple was up 36.2 % year-on-yer, with sales of 23.6 million units.
Android increased its marketshare for the quarter, with 72.4% of the market, up from 52.5% one year ago. Apple now accounts for 13.9% of the market, which is down from 15% last year, but Gartner expects that to change in the fourth quarter due to the iPhone 5.
