Shipments of smartphones overtook those of feature phones for the first time in the first quarter of this year, according to new figures from the International Data Corporation (IDC).
The IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker reported smartphones made up 51.6 per cent of shipped handsets, with 216.2 units dispatched, a year-on-year growth of 41.6 per cent.
“Phone users want computers in their pockets. The days where phones are used primarily to make phone calls and send text messages are quickly fading away,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst.
“As a result, the balance of smartphone power has shifted to phone makers that are most dependent on smartphones.”
The worldwide mobile phone market grew by 4 per cent year-on-year, with a total of 418.6 million units shipped compared to 402.4 million in the first quarter of 2012.
“In addition to smartphones displacing feature phones, the other major trend in the industry is the emergence of Chinese companies among the leading smartphone vendors,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “A year ago, it was common to see previous market leaders Nokia, BlackBerry (then Research In Motion), and HTC among the top five.
“While those companies have been in various stages of transformation since, Chinese vendors, including Huawei and ZTE as well as Coolpad and Lenovo, have made significant strides to capture new users with their respective Android smartphones.”
