Just over 2 million mobile phones were shipped in Australia in the first quarter of 2014, says market researcher IDC. This was a decline of 22% from the previous quarter as the market rationalised following the peak Christmas season last quarter.
Most notably there was a drop of 17% year-on-year, indicating that the market is becoming saturated.
The general migration from so-called ‘feature phones’ (those with few features) to smartphones continued, resulting in a 38% decline in feature phone shipments. But smartphone shipments also declined, by 20%, caused by a seasonal lull resulting from the transition period between two major product launches in the market.
“The smartphone market in Q1 was subdued when the initial hype over Apple's new iPhone 5s and 5c tapered off from last quarter," said IDC's Amy Cheah. “Consumers were also holding off their purchases in anticipation for the next wave of Galaxy S smartphones from Samsung, then rumoured to be in Q2.”
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Android continue to hold the largest market share (50%) with Samsung leading the pack. Samsung reduced prices of older generation Galaxy S phones ahead of a highly anticipated Galaxy S5 launch, regaining share from Apple as demand for iPhone 5s and 5c normalised.
Apple’s iOS had 33%, with feature phones, which use a range of real-time operating systems, on 12%. Windows phone was on 4% and Blackberry a statistical blip at under 1%.
IDC expects 4G adoption and migration from feature phones to remain key drivers of smartphone adoption, with a forecast growth of 5% in smartphone shipments by the end of 2014. Smartphone screen sizes are also expected to be larger as economies of scale drive cost of display panel downwards.
"While still niche now given the high price points, phones with screens larger than 5 inches, or more commonly known as phablets, will become mainstream as lower display cost opens up greater opportunities for affordable low-end phablets in the long run," said Cheah.