It was probably gonna happen finally, but a brand new report from IDC confirms it: smartphones at the moment are out-shipping feature phones in western Europe. In accordance with the company’s statistics, only 20.4 million feature handsets were shipped to the Old World throughout the second quarter of this year, representing a 29 percent decrease from Q2 2010. Quarterly shipments of smartphones, however, increased by 49 percent to 21.8 million units, marking the primary time that they have got surpassed basic phone orders. Smartphones also comprised 52 percent of all mobile shipments, which shrunk by three percent, collectively — something IDC’s Francisco Jeronimo attributes, partially, to Europe’s brutal financial system and Nokia’s steep decline (see chart). At the OS front, Android once more came out on top in the region, as a result of a whopping 352 percent year-to-year increase in shipments, while Samsung controlled the producing side, with 33 percent of the eu market. You will discover more IDC math within the full PR, after the break.
[Thanks, Pauly]
09 Sep 2011
LONDON, September 9, 2011 – Western European feature phone shipments continued to say no sharply in 2Q11 as consumers increasingly move to smartphones, in keeping with the newest European Cellphone Tracker from International Data Corporation (IDC). Feature phone shipments were down 29% to twenty.4 million units in 2Q11, while smartphone shipments increased 48% to 21.8 million units from a year ago. The full Western European cellular telephone market, however, declined 3% year on year to 42.2 million units within the quarter, consistent with IDC.
This can be the 1st time that smartphone shipments have surpassed feature phone shipments in Western Europe, representing 52% of total cellular phone shipments. All European countries are seeing increasing smartphone adoption, as consumers opt for Android-based devices and the iPhone from Apple. However, mobile operators stopped subsidizing feature phones in Europe a while ago now, which has made the devices less attractive to users. Feature phones are getting a spot segment driven by the very-low-end devices targeted at users who only desire a device for voice and texts.
“This quarter was particularly important from the device type perspective,” said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager, IDC. “Smartphones now dominate the Western European phone market and people vendors with stronger portfolios within the segment are consolidating their positions, compared with those manufacturers with less attractive smart devices. Android-powered handsets from the likes of Samsung, HTC, and Sony Ericsson had been in a position to drive strong volumes and to snatch the most important slice of share from the declining Symbian as Nokia moves to Windows Phones.”
Jeronimo said, however, that the entire market had slipped into the red because of multiple factors: “First, the commercial environment within the eurozone is deteriorating, with a right away impact on consumer demand. Secondly, the smartphone segment was strongly impacted by the pointy decline of Nokia, which was not totally offset by the remainder players, which can indicate that Symbian fans are holding off on their phone replacements until Nokia launches its Windows Phones. Lastly, operators eager about clearing inventories for the introduction of the recent devices expected within the third quarter, inclusive of the iPhone5 from Apple and Windows Phones from HTC and other players.”
Android OS strengthened its leadership within the region, with shipments up 352% year on year to ten.5 million units, which represented 48.5% of total smartphone shipments. Samsung was probably the most representative Android manufacturer, supported by the success of the Galaxy devices family.
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