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Touchscreens rule in smartphone business
Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 23:51 IST
Bangalore: Smartphone makers shipped more touchscreen models in Q4 2009 than at any time in the past - and more touchphones than devices with buttons, reports Register Hardware. Q4 2009 accounted for almost 40 percent of the touchscreen smartphones shipped during 2009, a year that notched up total shipments of 75.9m, according to market watcher Canalys. Some 166.27m smartphones shipped in 2009.
Touchscreen shipments were up 138 percent year on year, compared to overall smartphone shipment growth of 41 percent. During the quarter, 55 percent of all smartphones shipped had touchscreens. Canalys spoke to 4,000 consumers late in 2009 and found that 60 per cent of them wanted a touchscreen interface on their next phone. While some existing touchphone users said they will switch back to a different interface, Canalys said it expects the overall shift toward touchscreens to continue during 2010. It said it expects 166m touchscreen smartphones to ship this year.
It comes as no surprise that Apple topped the chart of touchphone vendors, shipping 25.10m smartphones in 2009, just ahead of Nokia's 22.36m. HTC managed 7.73m and Samsung 4.84m. Everyone else, together, racked up shipments totalling 15.82m units.
From a marketshare perspective, they divide up this way: Apple 33.1 percent, Nokia 29.5 percent, HTC 10.2 per cent, Samsung 6.4 percent and everyone else 20.9 percent.
