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Gartner

Smartphone sales finally surpassed feature phones in 2013

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By John Glenday, Reporter

February 13, 2014 | 1 min read

Smartphones sales surpassed those of cheaper so-called feature phones for the first time last year after clocking up sales of 968m units out of total sales of 1.8bn, according to figures published by Gartner.

The long-anticipated milestone came amidst a modest 3.5 per cent increase in total device sales from 2012 with the tipping point being reached around the second quarter of 2013.

Smartphone sales accounted for 53.6 per cent of the total in 2013, growing to 57.6 per cent when the fourth quarter was looked at in isolation.

Developed market saturation limited demand during 2013 with emerging markets providing much of the growth, led by India which enjoyed a 166.8 per cent increase in smartphone sales over Q4.

Android hovered up 78.4 per cent of market share in 2013, extending its lead over iOS which dropped to 15.6 per cent. Windows Phone accounted for just 3.2 per cent whilst BlackBerry fell to just 1.9 per cent.

Gartner

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