Apple has become a top-five global handset vendor off the back of its iPhone sales, as rivals LG Electronics and Nokia underperformed, according to analyst firm Strategy Analytics. Meanwhile year-on-year market growth of 13 percent in the third quarter of 2010 was below the 16 percent recorded in the first half of 2010, as component shortages and economic volatility “slightly” constrained volumes. Total unit shipments were 327 million. While Nokia remained in top place, Strategy Analytics noted that this was the ninth consecutive quarter in which it reported below-average growth, at just 2 percent annually, as a result of pressures on its mass-market 2G handset shipments due to component shortages. Samsung’s growth was above average, at 19 percent, taking it the closest to Nokia it has ever been – at 22 percent and 34 percent market share respectively. Samsung also increased the gap on third-placed LG, which saw a decline in shipments as a result of missing out growth in the smartphone market – an issue which is also impacting its profitability.

Annual Global Handset Shipment Growth by Vendor in Q3 2010

It is perhaps at the bottom end of the top five chart that there is the most interest. The remaining two vendors are pure-play smartphone companies, in the shape of Apple and RIM. Apple made it into the top five for the first time (coming straight in at number four), following shipment volume increases of 91 percent, due to the expanded availability of the iPhone worldwide. The “next major wave of expansion” is likely to come from the long-anticipated CDMA iPhone, Strategy Analytics says, which could cause problems for Samsung, LG and Motorola, which are currently picking up the slack in the CDMA smartphone space. RIM saw a 46 percent increase in shipments as its distribution grew internationally, although it was noted that the company has a “relatively weak touchphone portfolio for consumer users, a gap that the new Torch model has so far struggled to fill.” Below this is a “long tail of second-tier players emerging who are all knocking on the doors of the top-five players,” including two former top-five stalwarts – Motorola and Sony Ericsson. The list also includes ZTE, Huawei and Alcatel, and ZTE is especially aggressive: Strategy Analytics says that this company “stands a good chance of entering the top five in coming quarters.”