Smartphone shipments crossed 1.4 billion units in 2015, marking the highest year of shipments on record, research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has found. This new milestone was largely due to the introduction of advanced products at various price points catering to all segments.

The year 2015 saw the shipment of 1432.9 million units, up 10.1 percent from the 1301.7 million units shipped in 2014, says the IDC report. The report illustrates the remarkable growth of smartphone shipment backed by a strong holiday quarter. According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, in Q4 2015, smartphone vendors shipped a total of 399.5 million units.

Melissa Chau, Senior Research Manager with IDC, confirmed that in spite of the economic slowdown in China, Huawei is one of the few brands that has successfully diversified internationally. Huawei with its smartphone shipment exceeding 100 million emerged as one of the top 4 vendors crossing the milestone.

The Chinese smartphone vendor registered the strongest year-over-year growth among the top five vendors at 37 percent, no surprise after Huawei was consistent in expanding its presence in the international market last year.

A good combination of affordable handsets and flagship devices have also made Huawei successful in an increasingly competitive market. On the contrary, rival Xiaomi is still heavily dependent on its China base, with over 90 percent devices released at home.

Samsung shipped 85.6 million devices in Q4 and retained its position as leader in the worldwide smartphone market. With 74.8 million units shipped, Apple comes next. The company had its most successful quarter ever, but Apple CEO Tim Cook foresees a dip in sales in the second quarter ending in March 2016, reports Reuters.

RELATED STORIES