W. European customers move away from feature phones as Q2 2011 smartphone shipments reach 21.8M units (growing by 48% Y-o-Y) while feature phone shipments total 20.4% (declining by -29% Y-o-Y), according to IDC.
However, the overall Q2 2011 W. European mobile market is in decline-- by -3% Y-o-Y, with shipments reaching 42.2M, due to a "deteriorating" eurozone economy hitting on consumer demand.
Other factors causing the decline include Nokia's sharp decline hitting the smartphone segment (which may indicate Symbian fans holding off on their phone replacements) and operators focusing on clearing inventories for the new devices to launch on Q3 2011.
IDC says this is the first time smartphone shipments surpass feature phone shipments in W. Europe, making up 52% of total shipments.
All European countries see increasing smartphone adoption as mobile operators stop subsidizing feature phones.
Android continues leading the W. European smartphone market, with Q2 2011 shipments growing by 352% Y-o-Y and reaching 10.5M units-- 48.5% of total smartphone shipments for the quarter.
Samsung is now the top mobile phone vendor (in both smartphone and total shipments), as Nokia shipments decline further to second place. Samsung's Q2 2011 mobile phone shipments total 13.9M units, with 33% market share and 29% Y-o-Y growth.
Meanwhile Nokia Q2 2011 shipments total 9M, with 21% mobile market share (down from 37% in Q2 2010) and a Y-o-Y decrease of -44%.
On the smartphone front, Samsung leads with 22% market share and Q2 2011 shipments totalling 4.8M units (with impressive 700% Y-o-Y growth). Apple follows, with 21% market share and shipments totalling 4.6M units.