Shipments of smartphones increased by 47 percent year on year during the fourth quarter of 2011, with Apple becoming the largest smartphone vendor in terms of shipments for the year, according to analyst firm Gartner. Global smartphone sales hit 149 million units during the final quarter and 472 million for 2011 as a whole, accounting for 31 percent of mobile device sales. Apple secured a 23.8 percent smartphone market share for the quarter and 19 percent share for the year. Apple’s sales also helped it overtake LG to become the third largest mobile phone vendor in the world.