Smart phones outsell basic handsets for the first time.

Smart phones have, for the first time, outsold basic handset models worldwide; with an upsurge in demand from the emerging markets in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

The smart phone market grew by a staggering 46.7% in the second quarter of this year, with 435million phones sold worldwide, with smart phones accounting for 225million of those purchased.

Smart phones now account for 51.7% of global mobile handset sales and have outsold basic handsets in Europe and North America for the past two years after the launch of Apple’s iPhone in 2007. However, the demand for basic handsets in developing economies has kept the sales of basic handsets higher on global scales until this year.

Samsung remains the top selling brand in the smart phone market, with more than double the number of phones than Apple, with a 31.7% market share compared to Apple’s 14.3%.The growing demand in smart phones is due to the rise in lower end cheaper smart phones, which can be attributed for the persistent decline of Apple’s market share. Apple is expected to release a budget iPhone this autumn to try and compete with Samsung’s dominance in the market.

Android’s dominance of the mobile market with its operating systems, such as Google Play, climbing to a staggering 79% of the market share compared to Apple’s iTunes at 14.2%. Apple has seen a significant decline in its operating systems market share from 18.8% in the second quarter of 2012; this could also be due to the rise in Microsoft’s operating systems after the launch of its Windows phone.

The mobile market is now the fastest growing market in history and is predicted to grow by a 1000% between now and 2015, surpassing even the dotcom boom of the late 1990s. Here in the UK and increasing globally, if you go to any mobile phone shop all you will see is smart phones; however 95% of businesses in the UK do not have a mobile solution in place and the market is wide open to get these businesses mobile.