15th August 2013

Smartphone sales grew 47 percent in the second quarter of 2013 and overtook basic feature handsets for the first time

Worldwide, mobile phone sales totalled 435 million units in the second quarter of 2013 – an increase of 3.6 percent from the same period in 2012 – according to research firm Gartner. Smartphone sales reached 225 million units, up 47 percent from last year, while basic feature phones totalled 210 million units, a decline of nearly 25 percent.

Asia/Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe had the highest smartphone growth rates of 74.1 percent, 55.7 percent and 31.6 percent respectively, as smartphone sales grew in all regions.

Samsung maintained the no. 1 position in the global smartphone market, as its share of sales reached 31.7 percent, up from 29.7 percent in the second quarter of 2012. Apple’s smartphone sales reached 32 million units in the second quarter of 2013, up 10.2 percent from a year ago.

Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner: “With second quarter of 2013 sales broadly on track, we see little need to adjust our expectations for worldwide mobile phone sales forecast to total 1.82 billion units this year. Flagship devices brought to market in time for the holidays, and the continued price reduction of smartphones will drive consumer adoption in the second half of the year.”

In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Microsoft took over BlackBerry for the first time, taking the no. 3 spot with 3.3 percent market share in the second quarter of 2013. “While Microsoft has managed to increase share and volume in the quarter, it should continue to focus on growing interest from app developers to help grow its appeal among users,” said Mr. Gupta. The Android OS continued to increase its lead, garnering 79 percent of the market in the second quarter, followed by Apple's iOS with 14.2%.

Basic feature phones will be a hard sell in about five to 10 years time, says Gupta: "It will reach a point where sales of a new model of feature phone will not be able to justify the amount of time and money that is spent into developing it."

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