Global mobile sales dip 3% in Q3

Despite a 3 per cent dip in global mobile phone sales to 428 million units in the third quarter, smartphone sales jumped a full 47 per cent, according data released by research firm Gartner.

It said Korean major Samsung widened the gap with Apple taking the share of such handsets to 39.6 per cent of the total cellular phones sales.

Smartphones continued to fuel sales of mobile phones worldwide with sales rising to 169.2 million units in the third quarter, Gartner said, adding that the smartphone market is dominated by Samsung and Apple.

The quarter also saw Samsung becoming the largest mobile handset market with 22.9 per cent of the overall market share, selling 98 million units, up from 18.7 per cent a year ago, it said.

This has had the Finnish major Nokia slipping to No 2 slot with only 19.2 per cent global share, down from 23.9 per cent a year ago, Gartner said. The iconic Apple is at a distant third place with 5.5 per cent, up from 3.9 per cent a year ago, it added.

"Both vendors together controlled 46.5 per cent of smartphone market leaving a handful of vendors fighting over a distant third spot," it said.

The quarter saw Samsung further widening the gap with Apple in the smartphone market, selling 55 million units, driven by its Galaxy series across different price points. The Korean company commanding 32.5 per cent of the global smartphone market during the quarter.

Overall, Samsung's mobile phones sales accelerated, totalling almost 98 million units in Q3, up 18.6 per cent year-on-year.

According to the latest Garnter numbers, sales of mobile phones reached almost 428 million units in Q3, down 3.1 per cent from a year ago, even as smartphone sales accounted for 39.6 per cent of total mobile phone sales, as smartphone sales zoomed 46.9 per cent.

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