Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end-users were flat in the third quarter of 2014, according to Gartner. However, sales of smartphones to end-users grew 20.3 per cent year-on-year to reach 301 million units, the research company added. Sales of feature phones declined 25 per cent in the third quarter of 2014, when smartphones accounted for 66 per cent of the total mobile phone market. Gartner estimates that by 2018, nine out of 10 phones will be smartphones. From a regional perspective, emerging markets exhibited some of the highest growths ever recorded with Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa achieving the highest increase in the third quarter of 2014, with sales of smartphones growing almost 50 per cent year-on-year. Report