Growth in the worldwide mobile phone market is being partially driven by vendors outside of the top five, which saw volumes increase faster than the market, according to research from IDC.

According to the company, the “others” category accounted for 195.2 million units in the second quarter of 2012, making up 45.2 per cent of the 432 million total. In the second quarter of 2012, the “others” category made up 42.2 per cent of the total, indicating the growing importance of vendors in this group.

IDC said that “several vendors, including Alcatel and Huawei, had high double- and triple-digit growth rates in the second quarter for their Android-based offerings shipped to high-growth countries such as China and India”.

Among the big names, also picking up market share were Samsung, Apple, and LG, at the expense of ZTE (down 0.2 points to 3.5 per cent) and, primarily, Nokia, which saw its market share shrink by 6.4 points to 14.1 per cent from 20.5 per cent.

The worldwide mobile phone market saw year-on-year growth of 6 per cent in the second quarter of 2013, reaching 432.1 million units. The “others” saw growth of 13.4 per cent to reach 195.2 million.

Within this, the smartphone market grew by 52.3 per cent to reach 237.9 million units, the highest annual growth rate in five quarters.

Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst for IDC, said: “Though Samsung and Apple are the dominant players, the market is as fragmented as ever. There is ample opportunity for smartphone vendors with differentiated offerings.”

Global mobile phone market share, per cent

Market Share