Research house IDC released its latest numbers for its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker earlier today. According to their numbers, Huawei leap-frogged Sony to take third place in global smartphone shipments in calendar Q4 2012. IDC estimates that Sony Mobile sold 9.8 million smartphones in Q4, versus the 8.8 million smartphones it sold in the three months to September 2012.
Sony will formally be releasing its latest quarterly numbers on Thursday 7 February, so we’ll see exactly what shipment numbers they have achieved at that point. However, if the above IDC numbers are to be believed, it would mean Sony has sold 26 million smartphones in the nine months of FY13. This would put Sony well on track to hit its 34 million target for FY13. With some stellar Xperia handsets on the horizon, Sony has every chance to take back third spot later this year.
Thanks Aaron!