Apple, despite huge success in sales of its iPhone and iPhone 3G, has not done quite enough yet to garner a position in the top five mobile phone vendors globally. This is one of the major unwritten takeaways from a new report by research firm IDC.

The iPhone, in part though, may have contributed to an overall increase of global phone sales. IDC believes "advanced features in high-end phones" helped drive just slightly over 15 percent in sales growth between the second quarter of this year and the same time last year. Overall numbers show an increase from 265.4 million phones to 306 million.

The niche phone category of smartphones, which includes the iPhone, saw year-over-year growth rates of 40%, compared to roughly 10% of the rest of the industry. This is not to say though that more regular, higher end phones, which mimic some smartphone features like GPS and multimedia, aren't in the dumps – growth for those phones is on the increase as well.

The top five global mobile phone vendors, meanwhile, are Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson. It is interesting to note that while Nokia leads the pack with nearly 40% market share in the most recent quarter, LG Electronics saw the biggest year-over-year growth at around 45%. IDC attributed this to "success in key emerging markets, well-managed costs, and a warm reception towards its premium models, including the Secret, Venus, and Viewty models."

Source:tgdaily