IDC says the smartphone market “is in high-growth mode again,” with a growth rate more than double that of the overall phone market. Outpacing even the fourth quarter of 2009, 1Q 2010 shipments reached 54.7 million units, up 56.7 percent year-over-year, the market research firm says.

IDC's latest blast of good news for phone manufacturers comes as the firm continues to slice and dice data from its latest Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker Study. At the end of last month, IDC said the overall mobile phone market rebounded during the first quarter of 2010, growing 21.7 percent year-over-year to a total of 294.9 million units shipped.

Today's tranche of information focuses on smartphones, known as "converged mobile devices" in IDC parlance. These gadgets accounted for 18.8 percent of all mobile phones shipped during 1Q 2010, up steadily from the 15.4 percent share they held in all of 2009 and the 12.7 percent share in all of 2008.

According to IDC, vendors shipped 54.7 million units during 1Q 2010, up 56.7 percent year-over-year from the 34.9 million shipped during Q1 2009. Surprisingly, sales were said to be even higher than those during Q4 2009, though the fourth quarter is typically the strongest of the year. (Smartphone shipments during Q4 2009 were 54.5 million, according to IDC's previous Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.)

IDC's report summary did not address the issue of operating system share, though some inferences can be drawn from the firm's ranking of device manufacturers. As the table below shows, Nokia and Research in Motion (RIM) are said to have maintained their positions as, respectively, the number one and number two smartphone vendors worldwide.

Nokia — which introduced new C4, C6, and E5 models as well as announcing the Symbian 3-based N8 — enjoyed 39.3 share, identical to its share of the 1Q market. RIM's share declined just slightly compared to both 1Q 2009 and 4Q 2009, but the company retained its number two position, enjoying "stronger consumer adoption" and success for its BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Bold 9700 models, IDC says.

Meanwhile, Apple grew its share steadily, from 10.0 percent in 1Q 2009 and 14.4 percent in 4Q 2009 to a new high of 16.1 percent. Noting that a fourth-generation iPhone and new iPhone OS are expected to arrive this summer, IDC says Apple shipped 8.8 million devices, more than twice as many as last year.

HTC and Motorola continued to joust for fourth place, and this quarter HTC was the winner, with 2.6 million devices shipped and 4.8 percent share, according to IDC. Growth was "driven primarily by [HTC's] growing stable of Android-powered products, including the Hero, Droid Eris (pictured), and MyTouch," the firm notes. But, it adds, "HTC also remains committed to Windows Mobile devices, with the HD2 receiving a warm reception and Windows Phone 7 devices expected to launch before the end of the year."

Finally, Motorola shipments slipped to 2.3 million units compared to the 2.5 million it shipped during Q4 2009, according to IDC. However, the firm describes Mot as having "stormed back into the smartphone space in the fourth quarter," and cites a 91.7 percent year-over-year growth rate. The company's Droid and Cliq, respectively known as the Milestone and Dext outside the U.S., have had a full quarter of availability, and Motorola followed up with six additional devices, IDC says.

Availability

More information on IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker can be found on the company's website, here.

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