Sales declined 2pc in Q2, according to analyst, while global shipments grew 6.9pc to 330 million
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union had “no immediate impact” on the smartphone market, according to the latest figures from GfK.
Sales of smartphones for the three months ending June 30 fell by two per cent, the analysts found, with no clear effects from the June 24 vote to “brexit”.
Overall, sales in Western Europe fell by one per cent (both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year to 29.8 million, with the biggest decline seen in Spain, were sales dropped by 11 per cent. Germany and France both saw smartphone shipments increase, by one per cent and three per cent respectively.
Globally, 330 million devices were shipped in the quarter, up by 6.9 per cent on Q2 the previous year. This growth was driven by a significant increase in markets such as China (24pc increase to 109 million shipments) and Central and Eastern Europe (12pc increase to 16.8 million units).
The value of the smartphone market also grew, but fell just shy of the $100 billion (£76 billion) mark. This was up 6.2 per cent from $93.9 billion (£71.5 billion) in Q2 2015.
GfK director of trends and forecasting Kevin Walsh said:“Volume growth is coming from many emerging markets, especially a resurgent China, but also Emerging Asia and Africa.
“We need to look beyond sales in the major cities and the shipments of global manufacturers to reveal this strong growth – since it is consumers in rural areas driving this demand. With China being a key part of the trend, it is not surprising that it is local vendors who are benefitting the most.”
