HTC Expected to Rank Among World's Top-4 Smartphone Makers in 2012

Taipei, July 1, 2011 (CENS)--HTC Corp. is likely to elbow Research In Motion (RIM) of Canada out of the world's list of top-four smartphone makers in 2012, according to the Taiwan-based Market Intelligence Center (MIC), which tracks various industries including information-communication technology (ICT).

Also, the MIC estimated Google Android to become the largest smartphone OS platform in 2012 by entering into over 40% of the phones, up from this year's projected 38%. Nokia Symbian OS is likely to scale back to 23% this year. Apple iOS is forecast to command 18% of the phones this year and 19% next year. Windows Phone 7 OS is expected to boot up around 17% of smartphones this year partly thanks to Nokia's adoption.

MIC projects global smartphone shipment at around 452 million systems for this year, increasing 55% from last year. Its forecast for 2015 is 1.084 billion systems worldwide, soaring past the one billion mark for the first time.

Mostly thanks to persistently strong demand for iPhones and other new smartphones worldwide, Taiwan's smartphone shipments are thought to rise 75% this year from last year and generate revenue over US$10 billion in the third quarter and fourth of the year.

MIC projects Taiwan's smartphone shipments for the third quarter at 39 million systems, up 19% from the second quarter.