The iPhone saw its share of the worldwide smartphone market shrink in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a new report. Citing data from ABI Research, the Wall Street Journal reports that the iPhone’s share of worldwide smartphone sales dipped from 18.1% in the third quarter to 16.6% in the fourth quarter, despite the fact that iPhone sales increased 18% to 8.7 million units during the same time period.
According to the report, the overall smartphone market grew 26% in the fourth quarter, with Motorola introducing its first Android-based phones and Nokia Oyj increasing sales by 4.6 million units. The last time the iPhone lost market share was in the fourth quarter of 2008, suggesting that the dip in worldwide sales may be a cyclical occurrence based in part on Apple’s traditional mid-year iPhone introductions, which offer opportunities for competitors to release new models later in the year.
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