Categories: MobilitySmartphones

Global Smartphone Shipments Topped 1.2 Billion Last Year

The number of smartphones sold around the world topped the 1.2 billion mark in 2014, new research has found.

Figures from analyst firm Juniper Research estimate a 29 percent growth compared to the previous year, primarily driven by consumer demand for the latest powerful devices, including Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, 75 million of which were sold in just the last three months of the year.

Overall, 375 million smartphones were sold worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Dominance

Despite these incredible sales figures from Apple, Juniper Research estimates that Samsung remains the number one seller of smartphones in the world, with its 315 million devices sold accounting for 25 percent of the overall market.

However, this dominance could soon be challenged by Apple in particular, as consumers in China drive higher demand for the devices.

Overall, the Cupertino-based company held 15 percent of the total smartphone market, with Juniper predicting this will only increase next year. A separate report from the firm earlier this week predicted that so-called ‘phablet’ devices such as the iPhone 6 Plus will see a major increase in sales over the next few years, as consumers increasingly turn to larger-screen devices for watching video content and playing games..

It estimates that 138 million such devices will be sold worldwide this year, rising to more than 400 million phablets shipping by 2019, equivalent to around 20 percent of the overall mobile device market.

Packed market

The report also had encouraging results for some of the other manufacturers looking to challenge Apple and Samsung.

In third place behind the two titans was the combined force of Lenovo-Motorola, which was estimated to have shipped over 90m smartphones in 2014, improving its market share to just over 7 percent.

Next came Huawei, another company which managed to improved its market share year on year, shipping over 70 million smartphones in 2014, with the Honor line of devices accounting for nearly 28% of the total.

However there was disappointment for Microsoft, which only reported 10.5 million Lumia shipments in Q4 2014, primarily low-cost models, suggesting it has a way to go if it wants to challenge in the smartphone market.

What do you remember about the smartphones of 2014? Try our quiz!

Mike Moore

Michael Moore joined TechWeek Europe in January 2014 as a trainee before graduating to Reporter later that year. He covers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to mobile devices, wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and financial technology.

Recent Posts

TikTok US Sales ‘Hit $16bn’, ByteDance Nears Meta In World Revenues

TikTok reportedly brought in $16bn in US last year, while parent ByteDance made $120bn worldwide,…

15 hours ago

Bankman-Fried Deserves Up To 50 Years In Jail, Prosecutors Say

Ahead of sentencing prosecutors argue ex-FTX boss Sam Bankman Fried deserves up to 50 years…

16 hours ago

Senators Take Up TikTok Bill After Italy Fine Over Harmful Content

Senators consider bill restricting TikTok after rapid House approval, as Italy competition regulator fines company…

16 hours ago

AI Security Company Backtracks On UK Testing Claims

Security company Evolv backtracks on claims UK government tested its controversial AI security scanning systems

17 hours ago

Norfolk County Council Wins $490m Payout From Apple

Apple agrees to $490m settlement of class-action lawsuit led by Norfolk County Council for allegedly…

17 hours ago

McDonald’s International Outage Caused By Third Party

McDonald's says outage affecting thousands of locations across world caused by third-party tech provider carrying…

18 hours ago