Even worse is that manufacturers are clamping down on the numbers they release. Even super-successful Samsung doesn't want to talk about phone shipments, so these guys need to estimate almost hte whole market.

Sony's in a decent place with regard to units shipped, but as far as I know, Apple and Samsung are still the only companies making money in phones right now, with HTC just barely holding on. Sony needs to find a way to differentiate if it's ever going to find real success, because they're never going to compete with rivals like Samsung or ZTE on cost.

It's not that IDC was wrong, it's just that when they made that report, Sony didn't release their Q3 numbers yet (I think it came out November 1, and the report was done in October), so Sony's numbers would be in the Others category. But the 8.8 million shipment number came straight from Sony's financial report, so if you are going with the IDC numbers, Sony would be in third place. Of course, you can still see there are some differences in the numbers from the two reports, ie;  Samsung's 56.3 mil shipment in IDC vs 55.5 mil in OPs article, and I don't follow Samsung enough to know where these numbers came from.

pezus said: Sony in third place? Tell me something that I don't know

I fantasise about you sexually.

Actually, their smartphone line-up got way better last year. Xperia U is a fantastic mid-end device. They just need to improve their high-end devices, since they don't really stand out against the competition (GS3, iPhone, One X, Nexus 4).

If the rumoured device with 1080p screen is real, they'll have a shot at the tops. But their mid-end line is doing fine now.

Thats crazy talk there, Sony already overtook HTC and Blackberry in the smartphone market to become the 3rd biggest producer.

I own a Sony smartphone myself and I absolutely love it. It's so much better than a Samsung one I owned earlier. Their phones look awesome, are original and sexy. What is more they aren't just cheap iPhone copies like Samsung products. On top Xperia T is more powerful than Galaxy S3 and the Skyfall advertising campaign is really good. So good, it doesn't look like a Sony campaign.
Considering all of this, I'm not surprised they clawed their way to the 3rd spot. Hope more people buy their phones, cause they are worth it.

Samsung and Apple dominate the Market... Soon Nokia will join them as Top Dog on SmartPhones.

But Good for Sony, their devices are solid.

That was less about Sony's actions and more about HTC's/Blackberry's inactions. HTC copped a lot of flak for their recent flagship phones having apalling battery life and Blackberry has been refusing to follow the design trend for quite awhile now.

The fact of the matter is, the smartphone market is classed as a Duopoly, with 1st and 2nd significantly ahead of 3rd place, no more than an insignificant blip in the market.

Also, Sony should make Windows 8 smartphones. A Sony Windows 8 smartphone would be damn sexy

i don think this is real,