Analyst firm ups its 2010 prediction by 10%.
Analyst firm IDC claims that 269.6 million smartphones will ship this year, up 55.4% compared to 2009, and 10% more than its previous prediction for 2010.
IDC claims that 119.4 million smartphones shipped in the first half of 2010, leading the compay to up its forecast for the full year.
"The smartphone is the catalyst behind the rebound in the worldwide mobile phone market this year," says senior research analyst Kevin Restivo.
"Additional product introductions and an expected flurry of smartphone buying activity in the second half of the year will push the market well above previous expectations."
IDC thinks that the Symbian OS will take a 40.1% smartphone market share this year, well ahead of second-placed BlackBerry's 17.9%.
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The company predicts Android will take third place with 16.3%, followed by iOS (14.7%) and Windows Mobile (6.8%), with other smartphone operating systems taking a 4.2% market share.
However, IDC has also made its forecasts for OS market share in 2014. It thinks Symbian will still lead with a reduced but still impressive 32.9% market share.
IDC predicts that Android will overtake BlackBerry to become the second most popular smartphone OS in terms of shipments in 2014, with 24.6% and 17.3% market shares respectively.
The company sees iOS remaining in fourth place with a reduced 10.9% market share, with Windows Mobile hot on its heels with 9.8%.
IDC claims that the smartphone market will comfortably support up to five OS players over the next five years, rather than follow the PC market in consolidating down to one dominant player.
"Android is the wild card, deserving close observation for the rest of this year and the years to come," says another IDC senior research analyst, Ramon Llamas.
"Phone vendors have been drawn to Android because it allows them to present their own approach to what a smartphone experience can be."
