Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 435 million units. Smartphone sales accounted for 225 million units, up 46.5% from the previous year.

 

Feature phones totalled 210 million units, down 21%.

 

The highest smartphone growth rates came from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, the firm said.

 

A smartphone is commonly defined as a device that has built-in applications and can connect to the internet. 

 

In contrast, feature phones tend to perform fewer functions and are priced more cheaply.

 

"Smartphones accounted for 51.8% of mobile phone sales in the second quarter of 2013, resulting in smartphone sales surpassing feature phone sales for the first time," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst¹ at Gartner.

 

However, a competing firm, IDC, said this milestone² had already been reached in the first three months of 2013.

 

However, some analysts³ said that the price of entry-level smartphones has come down sharply over the past few months, resulting in a major sales boost.

 

"We have a lot of Asian manufactures such as Samsung, Huawei, ZTE and LG who are coming put with much more affordable⁴ smartphone models," said Andrew Milroy of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

 

"That has helped them tap into a vast consumer base, especially in emerging markets."

 

Mr Milroy added that some mobile phone carriers had also been offering pre-paid data plans, allowing consumers in these markets to limit their bills while using features such as email and mobile applications, which had also helped attract new customers.

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