Canalys has released its full, fourth quarter 2011 country-level smartphone shipment estimates to clients, so completing the picture for the year. One notable result was that total annual global shipments of smartphones exceeded those of client PCs (including pads) for the first time.

Vendors shipped 158.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 57 percent on the 101.2 million units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2010. This bumper quarter took total global shipments for the whole of 2011 to 488 million units, up 63 percent on the 299.7 million smartphones shipped throughout 2010. By comparison, the global client PC market grew 15 percent in 2011 to 414.6 million units, with 274 percent growth in pad shipments. Pads accounted for 15 percent of all client PC shipments in 2011.