The International Data Corporation (IDC) has released numbers related to smartphone shipments, indicating massive continued growth and consumers’ appetite for full-featured mobile devices.

According to the research, vendors shipped 119.4 million smartphones for the first six months of 2010, compared to 76.8 million smartphones for the previous year.  The IDC expects total shipments of 269.6 million smartphones this year, compared to 173.5 million units shipped last year, representing a 55.4% overall growth.  Interestingly, this is 10% higher than the IDC previously predicted.

Read the full story

As the surge for smartphones continue, the vital parts necessary to produce them are running short according to new reports.

Chip makers rolled back production during the latter half of 2009 due to the recession and are now finding themselves playing catch up as hot new devices hit the market in droves.  Beyond smartphones, it’s also affecting wireless carriers — some of which are seeing delays in improving their networks — and could even raise computer prices.

Luckily, the problem isn’t an across-the-board shortage of chips, but rather problems with certain components here and there.  If just one of the 20 to 30 critical chips that go into smartphones is unavailable, the whole production line screeches to a halt.  The problem stems from the fact that chips that go into smartphones compete for production capacity with other chips at the gigantic factories run by contract manufacturers.

Read the full story