Three research firms have just announced their estimates for the performance of the smartphone market during Q3. While of course Samsung and Apple topped the sales charts, the firms disagree on the line-up of the rest of the top five vendors.
Juniper Research estimates that Nokia's performance during the third quarter www.telecomasia.net/content/sept-quarter-comparison-nokia-vs-applewas enough for it to claw its way back into the ranks of the top three smartphone vendors, albeit as a fairly distant third place.
Nokia sold nearly 15 million units from its Lumia and Asha range, the firm projects. This compared to Samsung's smartphone sales of 85 million units and Apple's sales of 33.8 million.
But Nokia did not even make it into the top five in the latest estimates from IDC and from Strategy Analytics. Both instead put Huawei in third place during Q3, estimating total shipments at 12.7 million and and 12.5 million respectively.
Another strong showing during the quarter was fellow Chinese vendor Lenovo, but IDC and Strategy Analytics differ on its position in the charts. The former has Lenovo in fourth place with 12.3 million unit shipments, while the latter estimates that LG outsold Lenovo during the quarter.
LG's year-over-year smartphone shipment growth was in the order of 72%, but volumes were largely flat sequentially.
The research firms' estimates for the overall size of the smartphone market by contrast were much closer.
Juniper put total shipments at a record 250 million during Q3, up nearly 49% from a year earlier. Strategy Analytics said shipments grew 45% year-on-year to 251 million units. IDC estimated 38.8% growth and unit shipments of 258.4 million.