A recent study published by Nielsen shows how much smartphones have evolved lately, reaching a market share that’s equal with the one of feature phones. The study covers the US market, but in some way it also reflects the current global trend. Smartphones have become cheaper and fulfill the needs of more people now.
The finding covers the month of February and as detailed by the chart above, smartphone use reached 50%, while feature phone use went down to 50%. Add to that the fact that smartphone buyers over the last 3 months preferred an iPhone almost as much as they did with an Android device, so they’re pretty equal at the moment. Meanwhile BlackBerry units and the “Other” segment are somewhere at the bottom of the charts. The study is useful if you want to understand what’s happening with the smartphone market in the Western world and soon all over the world.
Asian phone makers such as Huawei, ZTE and Panasonic will start taking over Europe and the US, and they’ll offer much lower prices for smartphones, especially Android ones. Meanwhile, on the Windows Phone front Nokia will attack with very affordable smartphones, so everyone on the globe will end up having one. As far as the OS goes, Nielsen says that Android ownership is the same as it was 3 months ago, with 48% of preferences, while the iPhone is at 32%. BlackBerry is at 12%.
