Samsung sold twice as many smartphones as Apple in Q3, Nokia falls out of top five smartphone makers

Samsung sold 56.3 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2012, more than any other company and twice as many as its nearest competitor Apple, according to latest research by IDC. The two companies combined sold nearly a half of the total 179.7 million smartphones in the quarter.

As Samsung grew sales, though, the smartphone top 5 changed a lot and for the first time in years Nokia is not in it. The Finnish manufacturer, known for basically creating the smartphone, sold only 6.3 million smartphones.That is less than RIM, less than ZTE and less than HTC.

The dynamics of the smartphone industry change the top 5 manufacturers very rapidly, and we could well see RIM become the next company to drop out of the top 5 next quarter.

All of this happens as the overall phone market increased 2.4%, most of this due to smartphones’ exploding growth of 45.3%.

How will the rankings change in this Holiday quarter? And could RIM and Nokia make a comeback? Let us know your predictions in the comments below.

IDC estimate for phone sales in Q3 2012

1.

2.

3.