Smartphone onslaught
It's official - smartphones are now selling in greater numbers than traditional mobiles. The first 3 months of2013 show worldwide sales of smartphones captured 51.6% of the marketplace - the first time that smartphones have outsold their more basic cousins.
In some countries the figures are more skewed. In the US market it's around 2 smartphones for every standard phone.
The volumes are huge - 418.6 million phones (smart and otherwise) were sold in just the first three months of this year.
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| Smartphones have captured more than a 50% market share |
No other single manufacturer managed to capture even 5% of the smartphone market. Clearly there are a lot of players out there but they are trailing way behind the market leaders.
Smartphone sales outstrip mobiles for the first time (NBC)
Share of the mobile phone market in 2013 (BGR)
IDC 2013 survey of phone market
You have to wonder how long it will be before 'traditional' cell phones cease and all you can buy are smartphones or tablets.
ReplyDeleteThe older generation (65+) that still use mobiles seem to have a hard time grasping some of the concepts of touch screens and like to stick to the basics.
It's interesting how one brand can have such a big market share when all the high end phones seem to do the same thing, says something about brand loyalty
That's a good point Damien - the dazzling capabilities of the average smartphone does seem to phase the group that just want to make a telephone call and nothing else.
ReplyDeleteSome people also really don't trust a touchscreen - they need a keyboard where they can physically depress the keys. Still these are I think a small and ever declining group.
I think the falling price of smartphones versus the feature set offered is now making it affordable for many more people to own one without it being a major investment.
As for the market share question. Well I think Samsung invested heavily, they were very close to what Apple was doing when the iPhone stormed into the market and they put out a wide range of phones to suit everyone. The rest is history. Having flagship models like the S series or the Note makes them even more well known. Most people can't afford to own one of these top models but they can buy the baby brother, which is still more than adequate for most.