According to US-based IT research firm Gartner, global smartphones sales to end-users stood at 336 million units during quarter ended March 2015, 19.3 per cent higher than the sales figure for the corresponding quarter in 2014. This growth was mainly led by emerging markets such as India. The fastest growing regions were Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Middle East and North Africa. The emerging markets together achieved a 40 per cent increase in sales during the same period. In terms of overall mobile phone market (smartphones plus feature phones), sales grew by 2.5 percent from 448.9 million in quarter ended March 2014 to 460.2 million in the corresponding quarter in 2015.
During the reported quarter, Samsung led the market with 21.3 per cent share. It was followed by Apple (13.1 per cent), Microsoft (7.2 per cent), LG Electronics (4.3 per cent) and Lenovo (4.2 per cent). Meanwhile, local brands and Chinese vendors came out as the key winners in the smartphones category in emerging markets. These vendors recorded an average growth of 73 percent in smartphone sales. Further, their combined share went up from 38 per cent to 47 per cent during the same period.
In terms of operating system, Android’s share fell to 78.9 percent, while the share of iOS grew to reach 17.9 per cent as of March 2015. The share of Windows remained flat at 2.5 per cent.
