Yahoo Finance Smartphone Sales Now Outstrip Basic Models
Smartphones accounted for the majority of mobile phone sales worldwide for the first time in the second quarter of the year.
According to research firm Gartner (NYSE: IT - news) , 225 million smartphones were sold globally between April and June - 51.8% of all mobiles sold in the period.
It was the first time smartphone sales exceeded those of feature phones, which are more basic phones with limited or no access to the Internet and applications.
The survey found Samsung remained the leading vendor of smartphones and all mobile phones, and that the Google Android system solidified its position with a 79% share of smartphones sold.
Gartner said Windows Phone, the mobile operating system from Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - news) , moved into third place with a 3.3% share, ahead of troubled BlackBerry, whose share slid to 2.7%.
Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta said: "While Microsoft has managed to increase share and volume in the quarter, Microsoft should continue to focus on growing interest from app developers to help grow its appeal among users."
Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) 's iOS, the operating system for the iPhone, remained second with a 14.2% share, down from 18.8% a year earlier.
Gartner said Apple's average prices dropped because many of its phones sold were older, discounted models of the iPhone.
This "demonstrates the need for a new flagship model," Gupta said, but added that "it is risky for Apple to introduce a new lower-priced model too."
Gartner's data showed Samsung sold 71.3 million smartphones in the quarter, representing a market share of 31.7%.
Apple was second with 31.9 million, followed by South Korea's LG (KSE: 003550.KS - news) , with 11.4 million and a share of 5.1%, and China's Lenovo and ZTE (HKSE: 0763.HK - news) .
Samsung was also the top seller of all mobile phones, with a total of 107 million in the period, or 24.7%.
Finland-based Nokia (Stockholm: NOKI-SEK.ST - news) was second with a market share of 14% and 60.9 million phones sold.
In its latest results announced on Thursday, China-based Lenovo said mobile growth was behind a 23% rise in quarterly profits.
It pointed to a major evolution into wireless computing, driven by booming sales of smartphones and tablets as consumers shifted away from desktop computers.
Sales of its wireless devices rose 105% in the three months ended June 30.
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