Global mobile phone sales totalled 435 million units in the second quarter of 2013, a 3.6 per cent rise from the same period last year.

Samsung maintained its leadership in the global smartphone market with a 31.7 per cent market share, followed by Apple (14.2 per cent) and LG Electronics (5.1 per cent), according to a Gartner study.

Worldwide smartphone sales to end-users reached 225 million units, up 46.5 per cent from the second quarter of 2012. Sales of feature phones to end-users totalled 210 million units and declined 21 per cent year-over-year.

“Smartphones accounted for 51.8 per cent of mobile phone sales in the second quarter of 2013, resulting in smartphone sales surpassing feature phone sales for the first time,” said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.

The Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe exhibited the highest smartphone growth rates of 74.1 per cent, 55.7 per cent and 31.6 per cent respectively, as smartphone sales grew in all regions.

Samsung maintained the top position in the global smartphone market as its share of smartphone sales reached 31.7 per cent, up from 29.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2012. Apple’s smartphone sales reached 32 million units in the second quarter of 2013, up 10.2 per cent from a year ago.

In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Microsoft took over BlackBerry for the first time, taking the third spot with 3.3 per cent market share in the second quarter of 2013.

“While Microsoft has managed to increase share and volume in the quarter, it should continue to focus on growing interest from application developers to help grow its appeal among users,” said Gupta. Android continued to increase its lead, garnering 79 per cent of the market in the second quarter.

rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in

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