Sequentially, smartphone sales slowed to 7 percent growth from the second
quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2011.

Smartphone sales accounted for 26 percent of all mobile phone sales, growing
marginally from 25 percent in the previous quarter.

“Strong smartphone growth in China and Russia helped increase overall
volumes in the quarter, but demand for smartphones stalled in advanced markets
such as Western Europe and the U.S. as many users waited for new flagship
devices featuring new versions of the key operating systems,” said Roberta
Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.
Slowdowns also occurred in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.

Worldwide sales of mobile devices totaled 440.5 million units in the third
quarter of 2011, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year. Non-smartphone
devices performed well, driven by demand in emerging markets for low-cost
devices from white-box manufacturers, and for dual-subscriber identity module
(SIM) devices.

Sales into the channel reached 460 million units. The increase was because of
inventory build-up in the channel partly because of the shipping of new devices
late in the quarter but mostly to prepare the channel for the holiday season.

Gartner expects most of the build-up to be sold by the first quarter of 2012.

“Our forecast for the end of the year remains broadly in line at a
worldwide level as regions such as Asia/Pacific and the Middle East and Africa
make up for weaker performance in the Western European market,” said
Annette Zimmermann, principal analyst at Gartner based in Munich.

Analysts expect more competition in the fourth quarter of 2011, not least
because sales of the iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS will capture share from Android
manufacturers.

Markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Russia and China are becoming more important to
Apple, representing 16 percent of overall sales and showing that the iPhone has
a place in emerging markets, especially now that the 3GS and 4 have received
price cuts.

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]