Worldwide market share for smartphones

IDC reported Friday that Samsung has extended its lead over Apple in smartphone shipments worldwide, in part because its new Galaxy phones came out before Apple updated its iPhone.

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 phones got good reviews when it came out late in the second quarter. Apple’s iPhone 4S came out in October, and a new one isn’t due until this fall. A drop in market share for Apple is typical several months after the release of an iPhone model.

Samsung and Apple dominate with nearly half of the worldwide market for smartphones.

Here are IDC’s figures for worldwide smartphone unit shipments and market share in the second quarter of 2012:

— Samsung Electronics Co., 50.2 million units, 32.6 percent share (17 percent a year earlier)

— Apple Inc., 26 million units, 16.9 percent share (18.8 percent a year earlier)

— Nokia Corp., 10.2 million units, 6.6 percent share (15.4 percent a year earlier)

— HTC Corp., 8.8 million units, 5.7 percent share (10.7 percent a year earlier)

— ZTE Corp., 8 million units, 5.2 percent share (1.8 percent a year earlier)

— Other, 50.7 million units, 32.9 percent share (36.2 percent a year earlier)

Source: IDC