Global smartphone shipments top 1 billion for first time in 2013 - IDC

BEIJING (Reuters) - Global smartphone shipments topped 1 billion units for first time in 2013, climbing 38.4 percent from the previous year to 1.004 billion units, research firm IDC said.

Smartphones made up 55.1 percent of all mobile phone shipments last year from just over two-fifths in 2012, IDC said.

Samsung Electronics Co's market share edged up one percentage point year-on-year to 31.3 percent to keep its place as the world's biggest smartphone vendor, while second-place Apple Inc's fell from 18.7 percent to 15.3 percent, according to IDC.

Huawei Technologies Co, LG Electronics and Lenovo Group were third, fourth and fifth largest respectively, each with a market share of just under five percent in 2013.

(Reporting by Paul Carsten)