It appears Nokia is in serious trouble. It has now lost the top 5 position to another ailing phone manufacturer RIM (Research In Motion).
According to IDC, Nokia has been in the top five since 2004. This time, the Finnish firm is no longer in the top-five position, due to the massively popular Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5 made by Samsung and Apple.
Although RIM has snatched the top-five position from Nokia, it is still in trouble. It hopes to get back in the game once it launches its smartphones running Blackberry 10 (its next generation software) such as the Blackberry London early in 2013.
In Q3 2012 (July to September), IDC says RIM shipped 7.7 million units of its smartphones. In the same period of 2011, it shipped 11.8 million. From last year’s market share of 9.6%, RIM is now down to a mere 4.3%.
Aside from Nokia and RIM, there is another top brand that is in trouble. HTC is another. In Q3 2012, the Taiwanese phone manufacturer shipped 7.3 million smartphones. In the same period last year, it shipped 12.7 million units.
However, not all is lost for Nokia and HTC. The two are hoping to get some of their game back when they start selling their handsets running Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8, which now sports a number of new features such as multi-core support.
The smartphone market is dominated by two manufacturers, namely Samsung and Apple. The Korean tech giant is at pole position, shipping 56.3 million smartphones in Q3 2012. Apple is in second place, shipping 26.9 million units of the iPhone, which is an increase of 10 million units compared to the same period in 2011.
Do you think Nokia can get its mojo back, or do you think Samsung and Apple are too dominant? Share your thoughts through a comment on our Facebook page.
