Smartphone sales are increasing across the globe, new figures have shown.
According to the findings from Gartner, worldwide purchases of the devices escalated by 46.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2012 compared with the same three-month period in 2011.
It was shown that smartphone sales accounted for 39.6 per cent of total mobile phone transactions in the timeframe, with 169.2 million units shipped.
Apple and Samsung dominated this market in quarter three, with the vendors controlling a combined 46.5 per cent of the sector.
Nokia, however, tumbled from third spot in quarter two 2012 to seventh place the following quarter, with RIM moving up to become the number three top selling brand and HTC claiming fourth position.
Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner – which was founded in 1979 – said: “After two consecutive quarter of decline in mobile phone sales, demand has improved in both mature and emerging markets as sales increased sequentially.”
Mr Gupta explained sales of mobile phones in China were driven by the popularity of smartphones, although demand for feature phones failed to improve markedly.
