New figures from mobile analyst Juniper Research suggest that Samsung shipped over 300 million smartphones in 2013, over 30 per cent of all shipments.
The figure represents a 40 per cent year-on-year-increase from 2012, despite a fall in quarterly shipments in the fourth quarter. The news comes against a backdrop of rumours that Samsung will cease to make notebooks next year and will roll-out a number of new tablets.
Juniper estimates that total smartphone shipments in 2013 were 980 million, at rate of 39 per cent growth from 2012. It is estimated that shipments exceeded 280 million in the fourth quarter of 2013 alone.
Prize fruit
The report also noted that Apple posted a record of 51 million iPhone sales during the fourth quarter in 2013, an increase of 51 per cent compared to the fourth quarter in 2012. In spite of this, Apple's share price dropped by 5% following lowered sales expectations for 2014.
Elsewhere, it was reported that Nokia sold 30 million Lumia smartphones during 2013, over double the amount it sold in 2012.
Meanwhile, LG posted a record quarter with quarterly smartphone sales exceeding 13 million for the first time. Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE all increased their share of the smartphone market with combined sales of over 40 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.
