Gartner Reports Dip in Global Cell Phone Sales

Gartner reported that the sales of mobile phones have declined globally compared to last year. According to Gartner, the sales rate has declined to about 1.7 percent considering that of the previous year. They also added that a decline in the mobile phone sales occurred for the first time after 2009.

Several reasons were quoted behind the unexpected decline of the sales percent and difficult economic conditions were mentioned as the major element.

Along with it, intense market competition and shifting consumer interest are yet other reasons that resulted in the sales drop worldwide. As per estimates of 2012, the sales of mobile units have reached 1.75 billion units which are rated as a 1.7 percent decline from 2011. However, the fourth quarter of 2012 marked 207.7 million handsets' sale which is rated as a record sale over a year being a 38.3 percent hike.

The sales of the feature phones went down to 19.3 percent over the year and the total sales recorded were 264.4 million units. According to the research firm, the smartphones sale all over the world is expected to reach up to 1 billion units by the end of 2013 considering the initial trend. The overall sales of the mobile phones may go up to 1.9 billion units by end of 2013.

In spite of all these happenings, the combined market share of Samsung and Apple marked 52 percent in the fourth quarter which was just 46.4 percent in 2011. Gartner also added that Samsung is in the first position while taking into account the sales percent of smartphone sales and also the overall mobile sales.