ZTE becomes world's 4th largest manufacturer, Android is top OS

31 January, 2011
Last week we did a quick overview of the big players on the mobile market, but it turns out we missed a pretty big one. We thought ZTE isn't a major player in Europe and North America, but the IDC report...

Sort by:

  • D
  • AnonD-291
  • vGA
  • 01 Feb 2011

adkane, 31 Jan 2011Bada is open source too, but you dont see any other manufac... morewell bada is under development. so far its just a platform not even an OS.
and what do u mean by symbian is Nokia's only??
symbian is open source.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • t7X
    • 01 Feb 2011

    Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG, Acer and several others barely sell more Androids than Nokia alone with Symbian in Q4.

    OK, With every story there ’ s various perspectives. Here’ s the “ Android takes over Symbian ” story. The last time such a story ran where “ Android took over Symbian ” in Asia, China and India were taken out of the equation. Not just Nokia ’ s biggest markets but the two countries combined has 60% of Asia ’ s frikkin population! Now we’ re hearing again that in Q4, Android has taken over Nokia ’ s Symbian. 31M (Symbian) vs 33M (Android). 28.3M are from Nokia. One manufacturer. ONE. Nokia is one guy. Let ’ s call him Chuck Norris. Android is like a group of guys. Sammy, Henry, Moe, Sonny, Luigi, Ace and several other extras. For quite some time, Chuck has been beating everyone else on his own! (Not that Chuck was ever praised. Oh it’ s not about sales! It’ s not about market share! It ’ s not about anything positive for you unless we can brag about it ourselves). Some questions I wanna ask:
    How many Symbian Phones sold in 2010
    How many Android Phones sold in 2010
    When did Nokia start selling S^3 phones?
    Is Nokia still number 1 as phone manufacturer?
    How come Android at Number 2 in Q3 is INCREDIBLE but Nokia at number 2 in Q4 are “ DYING” .
    What on earth about #3, #4, #5?

    Are there still more Symbian users than Android users?
    You know what? I think it ’ s awesome that it takes every other god-damn manufacturer to sell all their androids to ‘ overtake ’ Symbian. And this is with the “ crappy Symbian phones” that the likes of Gizmodo refused to review as they hated it so much! It’ s so “ bad” and so “ weak” yet every major manufacturer are barely denting it? Nokia ’ s given the competition SUCH an EASY time so far. But seriously, Nokia. Get your freaking act together with Symbian. This could have been nipped in the bud, now you’ re gonna have to pull a lumberjack routine. hmm. I haven’ t eaten in 30 hours .

      • D
      • AnonD-291
      • vGA
      • 01 Feb 2011

      Zong, 31 Jan 2011You got a point..but you must agree that with only only nok... moreok let me get it straight:

      symbian is open source and so is android.

      but then why are so many vendors choosing android over symbian ??? the reason is obvious.

      and i didnt understand what u said about margin being only 2% .

      33% market share was achieved in just 2 years and that number is constantly increasing whereas symbian share is decreasing.
      symbian share will decrease further when many nokia supporters move to meego.

        • i
        • i love to argue
        • vGA
        • 01 Feb 2011

        [deleted post]yeah keep dreaming about what meego will do.

          • x
          • xis
          • YTL
          • 01 Feb 2011

          looking at the charts/table, nokia is on the top. I don't think being on top is as bad as someone wants others to believe.

            • I
            • I love to argue
            • vGA
            • 01 Feb 2011

            adkane, 31 Jan 2011Bada is open source too, but you dont see any other manufac... moreBada is still under development......

              • I
              • I love to argue
              • vGA
              • 01 Feb 2011

              adkane, 31 Jan 2011actually android is THE ONLY thing that manufacturers can p... moreSymbian is also open source....
              Why aren't manufacturers using that and instead going for android ???

                • I
                • I love to argue
                • vGA
                • 01 Feb 2011

                Zong, 31 Jan 2011You got a point..but you must agree that with only only nok... moreSymbian is open source. And so is android.

                Then why is Android used by so many vendors whereas Symbian is only used by Nokia. The reason is obvious.......

                Plus Android got 33% and became no.1 in just 2 years.... margin will keep increasing...and symbian share will decrease further when Meego is released....

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • sH9
                  • 01 Feb 2011

                  Nokia lost its lead earlier than expected.

                    • a
                    • arturas
                    • pdw
                    • 01 Feb 2011

                    Anonymous, 01 Feb 2011Go Android. I remember when analysts were predicting that ... moreyeah, exactly, their predictions were totally wrong and i knew it way before this and was telling it to everyone, especially for nokia fans, but they didn't believe me back then. still, i guess they won't agree on this too

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • PRW
                      • 01 Feb 2011


                      Although MeeGo is the best OS, Nokias need some more time to makes it goods and stabled, but by the time others OS will be extremely well established, so Nokia will be incessantly behind in tehnology.
                      Android today (release late peb 2011 )
                      960x540
                      2 x 1 GHZ
                      1 Ghz RAM
                      Symbian ..?
                      MeeGo......?

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • 8f8
                        • 01 Feb 2011

                        [deleted post]mozilla is not the best broqser my android phone have it. you mention almost all android phone can do,

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • 8f8
                          • 01 Feb 2011

                          Anonymous, 31 Jan 2011WHY is Nokia appearing here with 31 million smartphones sol... morebecause nokia owns symbian

                            • J
                            • Jimbo
                            • 2Zw
                            • 01 Feb 2011

                            NvS, 31 Jan 2011I can't believe this,zte..in the big five? They created ... moreAll phones and batteries are made in China. This includes Sony Eicsson, Motorola, Nokia, Iphone I guess you are playing Russian roulette when using these also?

                              • T
                              • TSH
                              • vav
                              • 01 Feb 2011

                              Anonymous, 01 Feb 2011Go Android. I remember when analysts were predicting that ... morevery well said - aside from the (IMHO superior) Nokia PC Suite that's basically why I'm considering Android for my next handset. The OS has matured to the point where by the time I update my phone again it should match my needs as well as, or even better than, Symbian/Meego.

                              One thing though: Apple lock-in is worse than Nokia lock-in. Unlike iPhone, Nokia phones use standard micro-USB to connect to a PC; standard USB Mass Storage or Media Device modes to transfer media and files; and can run applications downloaded from wherever you please.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • q}9
                                • 01 Feb 2011

                                Go Android. I remember when analysts were predicting that it would be 2014 before Android surpassed Symbian in market share. This news is just incredible.

                                It's sad to see Nokia go down like this. But they deserve it.

                                Try owning a Nokia device in North America. Zero support. And they don't even sell anything that decent here. You have to try and get the best Nokia's through an importer.

                                Beyond that, just look at OS updates. Android takes a lot of flack for that (and they deserve it). But Nokia is worse. On my old Nokia 5800, they gave me some crap bloatware in the box to install on my computer. It didn't work well, so I never got any updates.

                                Then there's the cloud. Nokia's cloud strategy is terrible. Ovi maps maybe be great in Europe. It sucks in North America. And I wouldn't be surprised if it sucked in Asia too. And that's just maps. Google has integrated GMail, Google Search, Google Talk, Google Voice, etc. into Android. An Android device is a gateway to the cloud. A Symbian device? Not so much. And if you use Google's service, why would you even bother with anything else?

                                Aside from all that, there's the issue of lock-in. If you go Symbian, you're stuck with Nokia. No choice of OEM's whatsoever. That's as bad as the iPhone....but worse. At least with the iPhone if you lock in with Apple, you get great support, and the widest selections of apps and accessories. What do you get for locking in with Nokia and Symbian?

                                And this doesn't even begin to address the mess the Symbian to Meego transition is going to be....or the fact that hardly anybody who has a Symbian device right now will be getting an update to Meego.

                                I wish Nokia luck. But it's going to take a lot more than that for them to recover from where they are right now.

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-82
                                  • PqB
                                  • 31 Jan 2011

                                  Now i will start using ZTE phones !!!

                                    • n
                                    • namez bond
                                    • xx}
                                    • 31 Jan 2011

                                    [deleted post]Meego is not even out yet, & you're already blabbering all over GSMArena how it's the best OS? lol you must in 5th gd. mate! xD

                                      • C
                                      • Connie
                                      • NrJ
                                      • 31 Jan 2011

                                      I have asked this before, and I am asking it again. Why does GSM Arena not review any ZTE, Alcatel, Huawei, etc phones. Although the Androids phones they make are as cheap as chips you get more phone for your money than from any other manufacturers.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • mm3
                                        • 31 Jan 2011

                                        [deleted post] "The five million S^3 devices comes from Nokia's earnings call."
                                        Show me where it is written "5 million symbian 3 devices" .
                                        I would appreciate the link with a citation. Thanks.