According to GfK, smartphone global sales reach 115 billion dollars for the last quarter of 2014, an increase of 20 percent year-on-year. The number of units sold increased to almost 346 million, up 19 percent on Q4 2013.
In Q4 2014, all regions saw year-on-year growth in smartphones, both in terms of units and value. The one exception was Developed APAC, where subsidy changes in Korea negatively affected these already very mature markets. The Latin America smartphone market enjoyed the highest growth with 36 million units sold in the last three months of 2014, a 43 percent year-on-year increase. This region also saw the value of units sold increase by 37 percent year-on-year to around 10 billion dollars.
China will remain the biggest market in terms of both unit and value sales for the foreseeable future. However, growth slowed dramatically in the second half of 2014. During the fourth quarter smartphone unit sales were flat year-on-year, although the value of units sold increased by 21 percent year-on-year to 28 billion dollars, the highest ever quarterly figure.