Global mobile phone sales down by 1.7 per cent

Overall global mobile phone sales to end users fell by 1.7 per cent to 1.75 billion units in 2012, the first decline since 2009, according to Gartner, due to tough economic conditions, shifting consumer preferences and intense market competition worldwide.
Mobile phone sales fell by 19.3 per cent to 264.4 million units in the fourth quarter, while smartphone sales rose by 38.3 per cent to 207.7 million units in the quarter.
Gartner predicted that sales of worldwide smartphone sales to end users will be close to one billion units and overall mobile phone sales will be 1.9 billion units this year.
Samsung took a 22.7 per cent share of the mobile phone market in the fourth quarter, up on 19.6 per cent a year earlier, followed by Nokia with 18 per cent (vs 23.4 per cent), Apple with 9.2 per cent (vs 7.4 per cent), ZTE with 3.4 per cent (vs four per cent), LG with 3.2 per cent (vs 3.5 per cent), Huawei with 2.9 per cent (vs 2.9 per cent), TCL with 2.4 per cent (vs 2.2 per cent), Lenovo with 1.8 per cent (vs 1.1 per cent), and Sony and Motorola with 1.7 per cent each (vs 1.9 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively).
There is no manufacturer that can firmly claim third place in the worldwide smartphone market, Gartner said.
bBased on operating system, fourth quarter 2012 smartphone sales was led by Android at 69.7 per cent (vs 51.3 per cent), followed by iOS at 20.9 per cent (vs 23.6 per cent), BlackBerry at 3.5 per cent (vs 8.8 per cent), Microsoft at three per cent (vs 1.8 per cent), Bada at 1.3 per cent (vs 2.1 per cent), and Symbian at 1.2 per cent (vs 11.6 per cent), Gartner added.