Sales of smartphones equipped with dual-core processors – the first handsets having only gone on sale in February 2011 – reached 60m units worldwide in 2011, according to data from Berg.

Total smartphone sales, meanwhile, grew 59 per cent to 470m units worldwide in 2011. Most of this growth was accounted for by high-end devices with retail prices above €400 (doubling to 150m) and low-cost devices under €100 (which increased sevenfold to 70m).

Samsung became the leading smartphone vendor in 2011, with a 20.2 per cent market share, narrowly taking the top spot from Apple, at 19.8 per cent. Nokia was the only major vendor that experienced a decline in unit shipments in 2011, slipping to third place with 16.4 percent market share – even RIM, which lost market share, but saw shipments increased slightly, and has stayed ahead of HTC.

As dual-core handsets find their footing, several vendors are already expected to announce their first quad-core smartphones next week at MWC – a move which Nielsen says will lead to adoption of dual-core processors in mid-range smartphones.