iPhone fourth in Q2 worldwide smartphone sales

Apple’s iPhone was the fourth most popular smartphone platform by worldwide sales in the second quarter, according to the latest data from Gartner. Apple sold 8.7 million units in Q2, good for 14.2% of the smartphone market, compared to 5.3 million units, or 13% of the market, in Q2 2009. The iPhone’s growth was overshadowed by that of Android-based smartphones, however, as sales of Android devices went from roughly 756,000 in Q2 2009 to 10.6 million in Q2 2010, accounting for 17.2% of the global market and good for third place in sales, behind only BlackBerry-maker RIM with 11.2 million units, or 18.2% of the market, and Symbian, with 25.4 million units and 41.2% of the market. Overall, Apple held a 2.7% share of the worldwide mobile communication device market, which includes both smartphones and traditional cell phones.