Apple, Samsung top smartphone sales as feature phones decline
The touchscreen smartphone revolution continues to shake up the mobile phone industry, with Apple displacing Nokia as the top smartphone vendor in the world. In fact, Apple has also displaced longtime mobile industry players like Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and RIM to become the number four mobile phone vendor globally. But Apple's rival Samsung, holding the number two spot in both mobile and smartphone market share, is poised to take both crowns if its massive sales growth can be maintained.
The overall mobile phone market grew just over 11 percent year over year for the second quarter of 2011, for a total of 365 million units, according to market research firm IDC. Growth has been slower than expected, perhaps due to a 4 percent drop in feature phone shipments. That's the first decline in feature phone sales since the third quarter of 2009.
