Smartphones Now Outsell Traditional Phones: Nielsen

According to a recent Nielsen survey, smartphones now constitute the lion's share of new phone purchases.

From Nielsen:

55 percent of those who purchased a new handset in the past three months reported buying a smartphone instead of a feature phone, up from 34 percent just a year ago.

The survey also contains some troubling news for Google's Android OS. Though it continues to be the most popular smartphone operating system, with 38 percent of the smartphone market, iPhone has shown the most growth over the last three months.

Android purchase remained flat at 27 percent between February and May, while iPhone purchases jumped from 10 percent to 17 percent over the same period.

Information Week hypothesizes that the iPhone's growth may be do in large part to two factors. First, that Apple's partnership with Verizon has made the iPhone available to a new set of consumers. Second, that Apple recently made the iPhone 4 available in white.

[via Gizmodo]

Comments

[Brad Martin]

08:02 AM on 07/01/2011

Smartphones doesn't equate to smart users. When it is said and done it tell just a phone. In case of an emergency people will still make calls. I quickly looked through the post and I see a lot of people that just don't need a smartphone.

[Pectin]

10:18 AM on 07/01/2011

They are not "just phones."
They are little computers.
If you don't need one, fine.
But speak for yourself.

[Brad Martin]

09:15 AM on 07/02/2011

Tell me why you have a Smartphone and if you do I bet I can guess which one you have.

[phredralf]

02:16 AM on 07/01/2011

New study: People prefer food over rocks.

[Paul The Octopus]

02:43 AM on 07/01/2011

No way!

[Ruiqi Mao]

11:03 PM on 06/30/2011

I know I'm going to be flamed by Apple Fanboys for being an Android lover, but I just have to say.
Apple's lost its opportunity. It had its moment of shine all the way back in 2007 when it launched the iPhone 3G, but everything's just gone downhill.
The iPhone 3GS went by nearly unnoticed. I myself, I admit, was an Apple fanboy back then, yet I didn't even know about the 3GS until a couple weeks after its release.
The iPhone 4 made a huge comeback, with all of its innovate (yes, I have to admit, innovative) features, but with the left hand corner problem and Steve Jobs' "You're doing it wrong", Apple's reputation went down.
The iPad and iPad2 were almost close to useless. The iPad was just a huge iPod Touch, and the iPad2 was a huge iPod Touch 4G.
Yet Google is making an enormous uprising. Over the past couple years, Android sales have been on the rise, and last year, Android sales surpassed iPhone sales, and is still on the rise. Even now.

Yes, all this is in opposition to the statement "The survey also contains some troubling news for Google's Android OS"

And also, I find it funny and sad that the picture only shows two iPhones, yet Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Tablet Linux, etc. are all smartphone OSs. It would have been much more appropriate to depict iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Symbian at the least.

[Paul The Octopus]

02:44 AM on 07/01/2011

I can't find the flame button on my apple...oh, it's on my banana!

[Pectin]

10:20 AM on 07/01/2011

You should try that again with a little fact-checking this time.

[talamox]

08:40 PM on 06/30/2011

What is a traditional phone?

[Keyop]

08:39 PM on 06/30/2011

I hate my HTC phone that sends my text to the wrong people on a lot of occasions and fails to ring when dialed. I'll be getting I phone next time.

[darkelflass]

07:37 PM on 06/30/2011

Well, as soon as I can upgrade, I'm getting rid of the BB; but I don't know whether to go iPhone or Android.

[David305]

07:20 PM on 06/30/2011

Refusing to get a smart phone is equivalent to holding on to that b&w tv set.

[blukazoo]

06:56 PM on 06/30/2011

I finally got an iphone last month. It was my first smart phone. I don't know what I was stupidly waiting for, it's incredibly convenient.

[Gudrun]

09:08 PM on 06/30/2011

It's nice, isn't it? I gave my 3GS to hubby when I upgraded to the iPhone 4, and he likes it a lot.

[jsern]

06:39 PM on 06/30/2011

Just more people being ripped off by telecom companies.

[redyst]

06:34 PM on 06/30/2011

Well, I guess some people would never believe it until a study confirmed it...

[dblueII]

06:30 PM on 06/30/2011

One you go mac you never go back.

[Krek]

06:10 PM on 06/30/2011

"The survey also contains some troubling news for Google's Android OS."

Not really. For the year nearly half of new smartphone users have bought Android, nearly a third have bought iphones, and the rest have gone to the other OS's. The real troubling news here is for RIM, who had nearly a third of the new smartphone market last year and who have seen that percentage drop to one-ninth of new users.

[MIKEinNYC]

05:40 PM on 06/30/2011

I'm gonna toss out my android so I can get the iCrap in white.

[LightShadow62]

05:36 PM on 06/30/2011

The jump in iPhone sales last quarter have to do with the 3GS being almost given away.

[Silverwolf72]

05:45 PM on 06/30/2011

Not like the $60 android phones

As far as the article goes it only make sense considering they are all most the same price.

[LightShadow62]

07:39 PM on 06/30/2011

Yep a $60 Android phone is a $60 Android phone but a $49 iPhone is 75% off the normal price to join the iCrowd.