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Sales growth attributed to standard mobile phones may be on the decline, but new market figures have revealed that consumers just can’t get enough of feature-rich smartphone handsets.
More expensive, but also more wanted. Image: whatleydude/Flickr.
Specifically, research company Gartner has said that, while global mobile phone sales over the year’s second quarter fell by six percent, the collective popularity of smartphone handsets such as Apple’s iPhone and Nokia’s N97 experienced a year-on-year boost of some 27 percent.
The continuing misfortune of general mobile phone devices follows record losses posted in the year’s first quarter, during which the industry notched up its weakest ever quarter thanks to a nine percent drop in sales.
According to Gartner, the second quarter saw Nokia Corp., the world’s leading handset manufacturer, increasing its smartphone market dominance to 45 percent on the back of cheaper models – and despite the generally lacklustre consumer reception that met its upper-tier N97 platform.
Sales for the month of June show that Nokia managed to ship just 500,000 units of its flagship smartphone, while Apple fulfilled strong consumer demand for more than one million units of its new iPhone 3GS during the device’s opening weekend in the same month.
Sony Ericsson emerged as the quarter’s worst performer, with Gartner’s research revealing that the handset vendor’s market share dropped to a mere 4.7 percent, further fuelling rumours that the joint technology partnership is on the verge of collapsing.
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