Smartphones out-shipped feature-phones last quarter

Last month we shared with you guys IDC’s prediction for last quarter that smartphones’ increasing popularity in the market will result to a groundbreaking overturn of it out-shipping feature phones for the first time in history. Well, the research firm was spot on their hunch as seen on their recent research result.

There’s a 4% year-over-year growth in the global mobile phone market, with manufacturer shipping a total of 418.6 million units last quarter. But what’s astonishing in IDC’s recent findings is that more than half (51.6% to be exact) of the phones sold last quarter are smartphones which equates to 216.2 million units.

According to Kevin Restivo, IDC Senior Research Analyst, the reason for the increase in smartphone sales is primarily due to the added feature that smartphones have to offer compared to feature phones. Another factor for this occurrence, in our opinion, is the continuous decrease in prices of entry-level and some mid-range smartphones in the market. This price drop makes it difficult for feature phones to go head to head with budget smartphones in the market.

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