The sales figures for smartphones continue to rise. In the third quarter of 2015, 325 million smartphones were sold worldwide, and the average selling price was US$300, as in the same quarter of the previous year. This quarter is thus the most successful since the start of the international surveys.
According to GfK, the good figures are above all due to China, the Middle East and Africa, as well as certain growth markets in the Asia Pacific region. For instance, the number of units sold in India rose by 40%, in the APAC states (Asia Pacific) they increased by 24%. In India, the sales figures, which have risen by a good 66%, are noticeable for models costing less than US$100, which now make up 48% of the market. In the Middle East and Africa, the figures rose by 16%, whereby Egypt took a top position with 39%.
In Europe, the sales figures only went up by 3%. The GfK market researchers attribute the weak growth to figures from France, where an increase of only 5% was achieved in the third quarter – in the second quarter, the value here was 16%. In addition, sales in Russia and Ukraine fell sharply, namely by 6 and 19% respectively.
GfK expects sales of 1.3 billion smartphones worldwide for 2015, which would be 7% more than in 2014. In the last year, the growth rate was as much as 23%. For 2016, the market researchers predict an increase of 8% in the sold quantities. (Source: GfK/rf)