Smartphone sales overtake feature phones

The second quarter was a historic period for the smartphone market, if figures from Gartner are accurate. The research firm estimates that smartphones outsold feature phones for the first time.
 
Smartphone sales increased 46.5% year-on-year to reach 225 million units in Q2, according to Gartner. This represents a majority (51.8%) of the 435 million mobile phone sales to end users.
 
Asia-Pacific was the fastest growing smartphone market, increasing 74.1% year-on-year. But smartphone sales grew across all regions.
 
Samsung maintained its position as the top smartphone vendor, with its share of sales increasing to 31.7%. While Apple shipped 10.2% more units during Q2 as compared to a year earlier, its market share decreased to 14.2% from 18.8%.
 
The rest of the top five vendors – LG Electronics, Lenovo and ZTE – all increased their market share year-on-year, to 5.1%, 4.7% and 4.3% respectively.
 
Android's total share of the smartphone OS market meanwhile grew to a commanding 79%, compared to Apple's 14.2%. Microsoft took the number three slot from BlackBerry, with a market share of 3.3% compared to BlackBerry's 2.7%.
 
Samsung also leads the overall mobile phone market, with a 24.7% share. Nokia held onto the number two spot, but its market share declined to 14% from 19.9%. China's ZTE and Huawei are currently ranked fifth and sixth respectively.