Global Smartphone Shipments Jump 55%

Apple’s iPhone 4S and other smartphones helped drive the worldwide smartphone market’s notable growth, according to IDC.

Global smartphone shipments surged 55% in the 4th quarter, as demand for Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4S countered declines by Research In Motion Ltd. and Nokia Oyj, International Data Corporation said.

Shipments advanced to 158 million units from 102 million a year earlier, exceeding IDC’s forecast for a gain of 40%, the Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm said today in a statement.

Smartphone demand is increasing as prices for devices become more affordable, encouraging users to upgrade to handsets on which they can browse the Web and send e-mail. Existing users are also trading up to more powerful smartphones such as the Apple iPhone 4S, which went on sale in October. Apple sold 37 million iPhones last quarter, helping the Cupertino, California-based company to double its profit in the period.

By the end of 2011, one out of every three mobile phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone, and the Apple iPhone 4S “played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand,” Ramon Llamas, an analyst at IDC, said in the statement.

Apple’s share of the global smartphone market jumped to 24% from 16 percent a year earlier, regaining its top spot from Samsung Electronics Co., which had overtaken the iPhone- maker in the third quarter. Suwon, Korea-based Samsung’s share climbed to 23% in the 4th quarter from 9.4% a year earlier, IDC said.