Samsung has overtaken Apple and grew for a third consecutive quarter in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) overall mobile phone market, according to the IDC research group (http://www.idc.com).

Overall the Australian mobile phone market dipped by 17% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) by shipments across both smartphones and feature phones categories. The smartphone market is now 65% of the total Australian mobile phone market, with Android taking over Apple iOS as number one position holding 49% market share. Apple iOS, in second place, holds 36% unit share as the market eased in preparation for the new iPhone 4S launched in October 2011.

New Zealand’s feature phone and smartphone markets, on the other hand, recorded a 55% quarter-over-quarter growth. The smartphone market holds 43% of the total third quarter New Zealand mobile phone market, with Samsung overtaking Apple’s number one position with a share of 28.5% of the smartphone market. Huawei, in second place, holds 20% of New Zealand’s Q3 smartphone market followed by Apple with close to 13% unit share.
"While Apple’s iPhone shipments slowed down in preparation for its new iPhone 4S launch in New Zealand, Samsung led the smartphone market for the first time with some of its flagship models such as Galaxy S II and Galaxy 5 performing very well," says Yee-Kuan Lau, market analyst for IDC. "Huawei continues to expand its local market presence and contributed to the growth in sub-US$200 smartphones with its U8180 Ideos X1 model sold via Telecom."

As we inch closer to year end, 2011 is proving to be an intense OS battle particularly in Australia. IDC expects Android to win by a hair in the Australian smartphones tussle. In New Zealand, Android is expected to widen the gap and maintain the lead in the smartphones market, says Lau. IDC expects close to 9.5 million smartphones to be shipped to ANZ channels by the end of 2011.