A new report released on Wednesday by market research firm Gartner shows that Apple increased its iPhone sales in the first quarter of 2010 by 112.2 percent over the same period last year. “Growth came partly from new communication service providers in established markets, such as the UK, and stronger sales in new markets such as China and South Korea,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

Apple increased its market share in the first quarter of 2010 to 2.7 percent with sales of almost 8.4 million units. In the first quarter of 2009 Apple had a market share of 1.5 percent, selling almost 4 million units.

The numbers place Apple in seventh place worldwide behind Nokia, Samsung, LG, RIM, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola.

Nokia topped the list in terms of market share with 35 percent and units sold with over 100 million.

Update: Clarified that the new report came from Gartner, not IDC. 7:49 am