British microchip designer, ARM Holdings has outperformed the weak semiconductor industry mainly due to the growing popularity of such smartphones as the iconic Apple iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones.

ARM has announced annual revenues have slid some 10% to £305 million while pre-tax annual profits dropped some 4% to £97 million reports an article over on the Times Online.

However, these figures were higher than expected and outstripped a 20% fall in worldwide demand for all semiconductors, and in Q4 ARM sold a huge 1.3 billion chip which is the highest number ever ion a quarter.

ARM is based in Cambridge and is a spin-off from the 1980s Acorn Computers which developed the first ARM chip.