17th February 2012
Global smartphone sales saw a year-on-year increase of more than 47 per cent in the final quarter of 2011, new research has revealed.
Data from Gartner showed that sales to end users reached 149 million units during the period, suggesting that antistatic packaging was in high demand as the need for smartphone components continued to grow.
According to the research firm, worldwide smartphone sales totalled 472 million units for 2011 as a whole.
Apple was shown to be the world's leading smartphone vendor, with a market share of 23.8 per cent in the fourth quarter and 19 per cent for the full year.
"In western Europe the spike in iPhone sales in the fourth quarter saved the overall smartphone market after two consecutive quarters of slow sales," commented Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.
The firm described the fourth quarter as "exceptional" for Apple, with its smartphone sales increasing by 121.4 per cent year on year. It also predicted that the company will continue to perform well as the iPhone 4S becomes more widely available in the first quarter of 2012.
Although smartphone sales continue to rise, director of mobile at Sky David Gibbs recently suggested he believes 2012 will be the year of the tablet computer.
Writing on Sky Views, he pointed to research by Mintel which found that eight per cent of people received a tablet over Christmas and an additional 16 per cent intend to purchase one of the devices in the year ahead.
Annette Zimmermann, another of Gartner's analysts, said growth in the overall smartphone market is expected to slow to approximately 39 per cent in 2012.
The survey also showed that the battle between the Google and Apple mobile operating systems intensified in 2011, with Android's share of the market declining slightly due to strong sales of the iPhone.