According to a report by research firm Gartner, global smartphone sales have climbed up by 4.3 percent in the April-May-June timeframe (via PTI) this year as compared to the same period last year. According to the firm, the growth of these smartphones was largely affected by slowing demand in mature markets and the steep decline in the feature phone segment.
The decline in the feature phone market sales was defined to be 14 percent. This number was the biggest culprit in bringing down the overall sales of mobile phones in the second quarter of 2016. Gartner Research Director Anshul Gupta said that the demand for premium smartphones slowed in the second quarter of 2016 as consumers are waiting for new hardware launches in the remainder of the year.
Comparing sales according to the make of the smartphones, Samsung is leading the market, as always, with a share of 22.3 percent. Apple follows the Korean giant closely with a market share of 12.9 percent. Huawei comes next with 8.9 percent followed by Oppo with 5.4 percent and then Xiaomi with a share of 4.5 percent.
Operating system-wise, Android has made a comeback with a heightened 86 percent market coverage followed by iOS which takes in just under 13 percent of the market. Windows and BlackBerry are falling further and further away from the rest with 0.6 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.
Android’s stronghold on the top position is because of increasing demands for mid- to lower-end smartphones from emerging markets. Unfortunately for all smartphone manufacturers, all markets, except Japan, saw a drop in demand for smartphones leading to 4.9% decline in the segment. Latin America, however, saw a 9.9 percent growth frame this quarter.
In conclusion, this sort of a trend is somewhat a normal variation this time of the year as new flagship smartphones as well as many others are expected to launch in the coming months. It will be interesting to see how the market responds to the launch of these next big handsets.
