Apple To Ship 86 4 Million Iphones In 2011 Blow Past Nokia Report

We knew in July that Apple had passed the imploding Nokia for the global smartphone unit lead by manufacturer. However, today Digitimes forecasts that by year end Apple will have sold 86.4 million iPhones by year which will easily best Nokia’s once insurmountable lead (Nokia had over double Apple’s share just last year).

Just because it almost doubled its unit shipment, doesn’t mean it is game over for Apple, however. Android makers Samsung, HTC, LG, Huawei and ZTE all showed better percentage gains though they shipped relatively few smartphones in 2010.

• Samsung closing 20M units gap between Nokia to become #1 phone maker in H2 as Android reaches 50+ percent penetration (9to5google.com)
• IMS Research: It’s Apple vs. Samsung amid Nokia’s spectacular fall (9to5mac.com)
• IDC, ABI: Yes, Apple leads, but not for long (plus, Samsung stops disclosing phone sales) (9to5mac.com)
• It’s official: Apple beats Nokia to become the world’s leading smartphone maker (9to5mac.com)
• DigiTimes: Eight million new MacBook Airs planned for third quarter (9to5mac.com)