Mobile

Smartphone sales continue to surge

Staff Writer

 ·23 Feb 2014

Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 968 million units in 2013, an increase of 42.3% from 2012, according to research and advisory company, Gartner.

Smartphones accounted for 57.6% of total sales in fourth quarter of 2013,  and exceeded annual sales of feature phones for the first time, with Samsung leading the way.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2013 (Millions of units)

Smartphone sales grew 36% in the fourth quarter of 2013 and accounted for 57.6% of overall mobile phone sales in the fourth quarter, up from 44% year over year.

This increasing contribution of smartphones was led by growth in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe, where smartphone sales grew by more than 50% in the fourth quarter of 2013. 

In the fourth quarter of 2013, mobile phone sales in mature regions fell due to weaker demand.

“Mature markets face limited growth potential as the markets are saturated with smartphone sales, leaving little room for growth with declining feature phone market and a longer replacement cycle,” said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.

“Lack of compelling hardware innovation has further exacerbated replacement cycles for

Smartphone Vendors

Gartner noted that while while Samsung’s smartphone share was up in 2013 it slightly fell by 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2013. “This was mainly due to a saturated high-end smartphone market in developed regions,” the advisory firm  said.

“It remains critical for Samsung to continue to build on its technology leadership at the high end. Samsung will also need to build a clearer value proposition around its midrange smartphones, defining simpler user interfaces, pushing the right features as well as seizing the opportunity of bringing innovations to stand out beyond price in this growing segment.”

It noted that strong sales of the iPhone 5s and continued strong demand for Apple’s 4s in emerging markets helped the company see record sales of 50.2 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2013.

“However, Apple’s share in smartphone declined both in the fourth quarter of 2013 and in 2013, but growth in sales helped to raise share in the overall mobile phone market,” said Gupta.

“With Apple adding NTT DOCOMO in Japan for the first time in September 2013 and signing a deal with China Mobile during the quarter, we are already seeing an increased growth in the Japanese market and we should see the impact of the last deal in the first quarter of 2014.”

Huawei smartphone sales grew 85.3% in the fourth quarter of 2013 to maintain the No. 3 spot year over year.

Lenovo saw smartphone sales in 2013 increase by 102.3 per cent and by 63.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2013. “Lenovo’s Motorola acquisition from Google will give Lenovo an opportunity to expand within the Americas, Gartner said.

“The acquisition will also provide Lenovo with patent protection and allow it to expand rapidly across the global market,” said Gupta. “We believe this deal is not just about entering into the US, but more about stepping out of China.”

Gartner said it expects smartphones to continue to drive overall sales in 2014 and an increasing number of manufacturers will realign their portfolios to focus on the low-cost smartphone sector.

Sales of high-end smartphones will slow as increasing sales of low-and mid-price smartphones in high-growth emerging markets will shift the product mix to lower-end devices.

More on smartphones

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Over 1 billion smartphones sold in 2013

More smartphones sold than feature phones: report