Death Of The Brick: Samsung Galaxy, Apple iPhone And Other Smartphones Finally Taking Over The World

A study released by the International Data Corp., a market research firm, says that for the first time since the advent of the cellular telephone, manufacturers are beginning to make and ship more smart phones, such as the new Samsung Galaxy S4 and Apple's iPhone, than dumb phones, the AP reported.

A "smartphone" is a phone that can access the Internet, has a relatively advanced operating system and a touchscreen. So-called "dumb," or "brick" phones, are just your basic phones that you can use to make calls, store contacts and maybe send texts and play Snake. The legendary Nokia brick phone was once the leader of the pack, but Nokia Corp., based in Finland, has not been as successful in making the transition to smartphones.

The study, released Thursday, says that manufacturers shipped 216 million smartphones worldwide in January, February and March, compared with only 189 million of their dumb phone counterparts. Much of the demand for smartphones is driven by rapidly-growing markets in developing countries like India and Indonesia, as well as China, an IDC analyst told the AP.

Samsung is the largest manufacturer of cell phones, both smart and dumb, worldwide. Nokia is maintaining it's hold on second place, and Apple's ubiquitous iPhone has kept the Silicon Valley giant in third overall. For smartphones alone, Apple and Samsung are the most popular.