Gartner: Smartphone Sales See Slowest Growth

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Gartner reports global Q2 2015 smartphone sales total 330 million units with 13.5% Y-o-Y growth-- the slowest since 2013, in part caused by poor performance in the world's biggest smartphone market, China.

Gartner Q2 2015 smartphones

"While demand for lower-cost 3G and 4G smartphones continued to drive growth in emerging markets, overall smartphone sales remained mixed region by region in Q2 2015," the analyst says. "Emerging Asia/Pacific (excluding China), E. Europe and MEA were the fastest-growing regions, driven by good performance from Chinese and local vendors. By contrast, smartphone sales in China fell for the first time year over year, recording a -4% decline."

In the vendor rankings Samsung continues facing the Apple challenge even as it launches new S6 models, with the Korean giant's Q2 2015 market share dropping to 21.9% (from 26.2% in Q2 2014) and sales fall by 5.3% Y-o-Y. Apple follows with 14.6% market share, an improvement from 12.2% in Q2 2014 as iPhone sales grow by 36% Y-o-Y through replacements in both emerging and mature markets.

Third placing Huawei records the highest growth rate (46.3% Y-o-Y) thanks to strong overseas sales.

Android remains the most popular smartphone OS, even if the aforementioned Chinese slowdown leads to a slight drop in global OS share (from 83.8% in Q2 2014 to 82.2% in Q2 2015). Android's loss was Apple's gain, as iOS share grows to 14.6% (from 12.2% in Q2 2014), while Windows share remains more or less flat at 2.5% as the company struggles to generate wider Windows Phone demand, even at the lower end.

Gartner Q2 2015 mobiles

Meanwhile global overall mobile phone sales remain flat (0.4% Y-o-Y growth) during the quarter to reach 446m units.

Go Gartner Says WW Smartphone Sales Recorded Slowest Growth Rate Since 2013