Worldwide mobile phone shipments rose 7% to 418 million units during the third quarter, with smartphones accounting for 60% of the total, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics. Samsung again dominated the market, shipping more phones than Nokia, Apple and LG combined.
“Samsung grew 17% annually and shipped a record 120.1 million mobile phones worldwide, capturing a record 29% marketshare in Q3 2013,” said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics. Samsung sold almost twice as many phones into retail channels as second-place vendor Nokia, which sold 64.6 million mobile phones during the quarter. Apple sold 33.8 million, followed by LG at 18.3 million and Huawei at 14.6 million.
Nokia, which reported its third quarter results today, said it sold 55.8 million features phones during the quarter, meaning that a third of the feature phones sold last quarter were Nokia phones. Feature phone sales are declining as smartphones become less and less expensive. As recently as last winter, feature phones were still outselling smartphones; now Strategy Analytics reports that they represent just 40% of mobile phone sales.
Despite recent reports of a slowdown in smartphone sales in developed countries, 3G and 4G devices are driving sales growth worldwide. “The 7% growth rate of the overall mobile phone market is at its highest level since 2011, and a recovery is underway, driven by healthier demand for 4G and 3G models across Asia, Europe and North America,” said Scott Bicheno, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.
