Apple’s global market share of mobile phones grows 6.6% year-on-year, Samsung up 22.9%

Apple’s share of the global mobile phone market grew by just 6.6 percent in the past year, from 35.1m to 37.4m units, according to new data from the IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker. This is the first time its growth has been in single digits since 2009.

Apple’s worldwide market share is now 8.9%, behind Samsung at 27.5 percent and Nokia at 14.8 percent. Apple is the market leader in the USA, with a 35 percent market share, but worldwide competes with both low-cost smartphones and featurephones. Apple is rumored to be working on its own low-cost iPhone to compete in the sub-premium market.

Interestingly, smartphones overtook featurephones worldwide for the very first time, grabbing 51.6% of the market.