Gartner: smartphones outsold featurephones in 2013

According to analysts at Gartner, smartphones sales have exceeded featurephone sales for the first time in 2013. Smartphones accounted for 53.6% of sales in 2013, but in the fourth quarter alone they had a 57.6% share, showing their numbers are still growing.

Samsung remains the biggest smartphone vendor and even managed to gain some more market share in 2013, though the final quarter of a year marked a small decline for the company. The Gartner analysts believe Samsung needs to push its technology leadership in the high-end and better bang for the buck in the mid-range to maintain its leading position.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2013 (Thousands of Units)

Apple, declined several percentage points in 2013 and in the final quarter, even though at the end of the year the company added both NTT DoCoMo and China Mobile to its roster (the biggest carriers in Japan and China, respectively).

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 4Q13 (Thousands of Units)

Huawei maintained the third spot, but will face increased competition from Number 4, Lenovo, which just bought Motorola from Google. Lenovo's smartphone sales in 2013 doubled and Motorola will help the company expand its overseas presence and enter the US market.

The breakdown by smartphone OSes shows Android keeps growing, Windows Phone managed nearly double the sales but it still has a tiny share of the market. It did surpass BlackBerry OS though, which is quickly becoming extinct.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 2013 (Thousands of Units)

Worldwide phones sales were 1.8 billion, of which nearly 1 billion was smartphones. Nokia still holds the second position behind Samsung in total phone sales, but it's quickly declining.

Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2013 (Thousands of Units)

Featurephones are declining in general, but smartphones have problems too – they've practically hit the saturation point in developed markets. Still, emerging markets are showing huge growth. India, for example, posted a 166.8% growth in smartphone sales during the final quarter.

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