Smartphone sales exceed feature phones for first time in second quarter

Unit sales of smartphones surpassed feature phone sales for the first time in the second quarter of 2013, according to Gartner.

It estimates the smartphone market grew 46.5 per cent from a year earlier to 225 million units or 51.8 per cent of the total handset market. Feature phone sales were down by 21 per cent year-on-year to 210 million units. The regions Asia/Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe exhibited the highest smartphone growth rates of 74.1 per cent, 55.7 per cent and 31.6 per cent respectively.

Gartner maintained its forecast for total mobile phone sales of 1.82 billion units this year, supported by new product launches around year-end and the continued fall in smartphone prices. 

Samsung maintained its No 1 position in the global smartphone market in second quarter, and its share increased to 31.7 per cent from 29.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2012. Apple's share fell over the same period to 14.2 per cent from 18.8 per cent, whereas Number-three LG rose to 5.1 per cent from 3.8 per cent a year ago, Lenovo grew to 4.7 per cent from 2.8 per cent, and ZTE had 4.3 per cent of the smartphone market.

In terms of mobile operating systems, Google's Android strengthened its lead, accounting for 79 per cent of all smartphones shipped in the quarter, it said, adding that Apple's iOS was in second place with 14.2 per cent, and Microsoft's Windows moved into third place, growing its share to 3.3 per cent from 2.6 per cent a year ago. “BlackBerry fell to fourth place with 2.7 per cent of the market, half its share of a year earlier.”