We know that smartphones are the hot device to have right now, but to have a market grow by 40% when the technology has been around for a while is nothing short of incredible. But, that's just what the smartphone market did this past year ending with Q1 2012. It grew a whopping 42.5%, yet the entire phone market shrunk by 1.5%.

Inside those market changes, companies exchanged blows for market share. Apple and Samsung snatched up over a combined 50%, leaving the remaining to be split among the 4 other major players. Samsung just about tripled its market share over the year, with a huge boost coming from 4Q11 to 1Q12 range.

Apple grew quite a bit across the 3Q11 to 4Q11 where Samsung's growth was flat. You can see how the interplay of the companies has affects on the others. Nokia, RIM, and HTC all experienced general declines to under 10% market share a piece. HTC and Nokia, I would expect, will get a bump on the heels of the successful One and Lumia series.