Sales of smartphones and other mobile phone handsets fell by 4.6% in the last quarter of 2008 - the strongest indicator yet of the impact of the global recession on the mobile phone industry.
Figures released by Gartner Inc. show that worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled 314.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2008. The 4.6% decline is based on a year-on-year comparison to the last quarter of 2007.
It’s not all bad news, however. The mobile phone industry did experience overall growth in 2008, with worldwide mobile phone sales to end users surpassing 1.22 billion units in 2008. This represents a 6% increase on 2007's total sales.
Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, commented: "Mobile phones have traditionally been one of consumers' preferred presents for Christmas. However, in the fourth quarter of 2008 consumers were concerned about taking on the contract associated with the most attractive products on the market. Consequently, mobile devices in both emerging and developed markets experienced the lowest quarter-on-quarter growth (2 per cent) ever recorded in a fourth quarter."
