Smartphones out-shipped feature phones for the first time ever worldwide

Q1 2013 marks the first time that smartphones made up the majority of cellphones shipped across the world, according to numbers from industry analyst IDC. 216 million handsets with computer-like functionality left factories compared to 419 million total, making up a solid 51.6 percent of the pie. Another trend spotted by the pollster was the emergence of Chinese phone makers, particularly ZTE and Huawei, who’ve notably displaced Blackberry and Nokia in the top five for smartphones sold.

Meanwhile, Samsung improved its lead over Apple in smartphone shipments over last quarter, jumping from 29 percent to a 32.7 percent share in Q1, while Apple slid from 23 percent to 17.3 percent. Sony dropped out of the top 5 in that category, while LG surged to 3rd place at 10.3 million units shipped, with Huawei and ZTE rounding out the top 5.

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