It was a long time coming but according to Gartner, smartphones having finally outsold feature phones on an annual basis.
The research firm says 968 million smartphones were sold, with a total of 1.8 billion phones being sold in 2013. While growth was not as large as in the past, global mobile device sales grew 3.5 percent from 2012.
Smartphones overtook feature phones at some point during the Q2, and the trend continued with smartphones finishing the year at 53.6 percent share overall. In the Q4, smartphone share was 57.6 percent, and that trend is expected to continue up.
Developed markets have reached saturation, says the firm, with emerging markets leading to all of the growth for 2013. Latin America had 96.1 percent growth year-over-year, and the Middle East and Africa, Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe all had growth rates above 50 percent in the Q4.
Android remained king at 78.4 percent with iOS in second at 15.6 percent and Windows Phone grew to 3.2 percent.
Smartphones overtook feature phones at some point during the Q2, and the trend continued with smartphones finishing the year at 53.6 percent share overall. In the Q4, smartphone share was 57.6 percent, and that trend is expected to continue up.
Developed markets have reached saturation, says the firm, with emerging markets leading to all of the growth for 2013. Latin America had 96.1 percent growth year-over-year, and the Middle East and Africa, Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe all had growth rates above 50 percent in the Q4.
Android remained king at 78.4 percent with iOS in second at 15.6 percent and Windows Phone grew to 3.2 percent.
