Samsung smartphone growth hits 275%, while RIM and Nokia tumble

Worldwide smartphone marketshare figures for the fourth quarter of 2011 reveal strong growth for Apple, Samsung and HTC, while Nokia and Research in Motion continue to tumble.

Samsung now trails Apple’s worldwide smartphone marketshare by less than 1%, with its marketshare growing to 22.8% (up from 9.4% a year earlier), and worldwide shipment volumes hitting 36 million for the quarter (up from 9.6 million a year earlier). The figures represent a remarkable year-over-year growth rate of 275%.

The IDC figures, published by ZDNet, also reveal that Apple’s worldwide marketshare grew to 23.5%, up from 15.9% a year earlier, while HTC’s shipments grew from 8.7 million to 10.2 million, in spite of its overall marketshare falling from 8.5% to 6.5%.

The news is far less rosy for former market leaders RIM and Nokia, with Nokia’s marketshare collapsing to 12.4% from 27.6% a year earlier, and RIM’s marketshare collapsing to just 8.2%, down from 14.3%. Worldwide, Samsung now ship more smartphones each quarter than Nokia (19.6 million) and RIM (13 million) combined.