New research from Gartner finds that the global sale of smartphones has outstripped that of feature phones for the first time.
Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totaled 435 million units in the second quarter of 2013, an increase of 3.6% from the same period last year, Gartner said.
Worldwide smartphone sales to end users reached 225 million units, up 46.5% from the second quarter of 2012.
Sales of feature phones to end users totaled 210 million units and declined 21% year-over-year, the research firm noted.
“Smartphones accounted for 51.8% of mobile phone sales in the second quarter of 2013, resulting in smartphone sales surpassing feature phone sales for the first time,” said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.
Asia/Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe exhibited the highest smartphone growth rates of 74.1%, 55.7% and 31.6% respectively, as smartphone sales grew in all regions.
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2Q13 (Millions of units)
| Vendor | 2Q12 Units |
2Q12 Market Share (%) |
2Q13 Units | 2Q13 Market Share (%) |
| Samsung | 45.603 | 29.7 | 71.380 | 31.7 |
| Apple | 28.935 | 18.8 | 31.899 | 14.2 |
| LG Electronics | 5.827 | 3.8 | 11.473 | 5.1 |
| Lenovo | 4.370 | 2.8 | 10.671 | 4.7 |
| ZTE | 6.331 | 4.1 | 9.687 | 4.3 |
| Others | 62.704 | 40.8 | 90.213 | 40.0 |
| Total | 153.772 | 100.0 | 225.326 | 100.0 |
Total Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2Q13 (Millions of units)
| Vendor | 2Q12 Units |
2Q12 Market Share (%) |
2Q13 Units |
2Q13 Market Share |
| Samsung | 90.432 | 21.5 | 107.526 | 24.7 |
| Nokia | 83.420 | 19.9 | 60.953 | 14.0 |
| Apple | 28.935 | 6.9 | 31.899 | 7.3 |
| LG Electronics | 14.345 | 3.4 | 17.016 | 3.9 |
| ZTE | 17.198 | 4.1 | 15.280 | 3.5 |
| Huawei | 10.894 | 2.6 | 11.275 | 2.6 |
| Lenovo | 6.821 | 1.6 | 10.954 | 2.5 |
| TCL | 9.355 | 2.2 | 10.134 | 2.3 |
| Sony Mobile | 7.346 | 1.7 | 9.504 | 2.2 |
| Yulong | 4.016 | 1.0 | 7.911 | 1.8 |
| Others | 147.354 | 35.1 | 152.701 | 35.1 |
| Total | 420.120 | 100.0 | 435.158 | 100.0 |
Samsung maintained the dominant position in the global smartphone market, as its share of smartphone sales reached 31.7%, up from 29.7% in the second quarter of 2012.
Apple’s smartphone sales reached 32 million units in the second quarter of 2013, up 10.2% from a year ago.
In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Microsoft took over BlackBerry for the first time, taking third spot with 3.3% market share in the second quarter of 2013.
“While Microsoft has managed to increase share and volume in the quarter, Microsoft should continue to focus on growing interest from app developers to help grow its appeal among users,” said Gupta.
Android continued to increase its lead, garnering 79% of the market in the second quarter.
“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,” Gupta said.
“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.”
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