GEC NEWS WIRESmartphone Sales Declined for First Time in China; Android’s YoY Growth Rate at its Lowest
Gartner research finds that worldwide smartphone sales recorded the slowest growth rate since 2013 in the second quarter of 2015. Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users totaled 330 million units, an increase of 13.5 percent over the same period in 2014.
“While demand for lower-cost 3G and 4G smartphones continued to drive growth in emerging markets, overall smartphone sales remained mixed region by region in the second quarter of 2015,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. Emerging Asia/Pacific (excluding China), Eastern Europe and Middle East and Africa were the fastest-growing regions, driven by good performance from Chinese and local vendors. By contrast, smartphone sales in China fell for the first time year over year, recording a 4 percent decline.
Apple’s double-digit growth in the high-end segment continued to negatively impact its rivals’ premium phone sales and profit margins. “Android saw its lowest year-over-year growth of 11 percent with share reaching 82.2 percent in the second quarter of 2015,” said Mr. Gupta. Microsoft continued to struggle to generate wider demand for Windows Phone devices. Vendors that are focused on the emerging markets, such as Huawei, ZTE, TCL Communication and Micromax, benefited from high demand in these markets, while global vendors such as Sony, Samsung and HTC struggled to achieve growth at the high end of the market.
