IDC reports the W. European mobile market returns to growth in Q1 2012, following 3 quarters of decline-- with shipments growing by 1.3% Y-o-Y to reach 44.8 million units.
Smartphones account for 63% of the total Q1 2012 mobile market, with shipments of 28.2m units and 37% Y-o-Y growth.
Meanwhile the feature phone segment shrinks further (by -30% Y-o-Y) and reaches 16.6m units.
IDC says European customers "are are still willing" to spend on smartphones-- the most expensive devices (priced over €400) account for 49% of total Q1 2012 smartphone shipments (up from 46% in Q1 2011), with the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S II topping sales rankings.
Android remains the top mobile OS in W. Europe, with 55% smartphone shipment share. Shipments grow by 124% Y-o-Y to 15.5m units, as the OS competes in both high-end and low-end tiers, taking over Symbian and BlackBerry share.
Thanks to "strong" iPhone 4S demand, Apple smartphone shipments are up by 59% Y-o-Y, reaching 7m units with 25% market share.
Windows Phone is also growing-- it now represents 4.1% of total smartphone shipments (up from 2.2% in Q1 2011), with 156% Y-o-Y growth. New Windows Phone 8 handsets are already drawing attention from European operators, even if Nokia Lumia performance is below IDC expectations.
Both BlackBerry and Symbian-- former W. European champions-- are rapidly losing market share. BlackBerry Q1 2012 shipments are down by -27% Y-o-Y to 2.5m units, with share falling to 9% (down from 17% in Q1 2011).
Symbian continues losing both customer and operator support as it represents less than 5% of total smartphone shipments. Shipments are down by -70% Y-o-Y, and IDC predicts the OS will be pretty much dead by Q1 2013.
