According to Gartner Inc., global sales of mobile handsets reached 426 million units in the first quarter of 2013. This was a 0.7 per cent increase from the same period last year.
Segment-wise, globally, over 210 million smartphone units were sold in the period under consideration, a 42.9 per cent increase from the first quarter of 2012. Only the Asia Pacific region witnessed growth in the number of handsets sold, to the tune of over 226 million, a 6.4 per cent year-on-year increase.
Meanwhile, China registered a 7.5 per cent increase in handset sales during the period under consideration. This, as per Gartner, accounted for 25.7 per cent of global handset sales.
Moreover, handset sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa declined by 3.6 per cent while the North American and Latin American handset markets witnessed a decline of 9.5 and 3.8 per cent, respectively.
Vendor-wise, in the global smartphone space, Samsung led the pecking order, with a market share of 30.8 per cent. In comparison, the market share of former market leader Nokia continued to decline. Under the period under consideration, its market share dropped by 4.9 percentage points, owing to a steep decline in the sales of feature handsets.
Meanwhile, Apple registered sales of 38.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013. China accounted for the bulk of the company’s sales, with close to 7 million units being sold in mainland China alone.
