The worldwide market for mobile phones grew 18.5 percent in 2010, after declining by 1.6 percent the previous year, according to Framingham-based International Data Corp.
IDC said smart phones drove much of the growth, with many people replacing their old phones with new models that have extra capabilities. Another force for increased sales was cell phone adoption in new places. ZTE, a Chinese company that sells lower-cost phones in emerging markets, grew its sales by 94 percent and became the fourth-biggest vendor worldwide.
Nokia was the biggest vendor, selling 453 million phones and capturing 32.6 percent of the market, followed by Samsung at 280.2 million phones and 20.2 percent market share.
