New smartphone figures highlight continued struggles to grow market
by Brian Heater from Crunch Hype on (#4VP3D)
In some corners, the smartphone market is showing its first signs of life in some time.
Recent figures from Canalys indicate a small but notable uptick in the European market as shipments grew 3%, year-over-year in Q3.
The analyst firm put global growth at 1% globally in another recent report. Generally, such numbers wouldn't warrant much celebration, but the way the market has been going, most manufacturers will take what they can get.
New numbers out this morning from Gartner paint a less rosy picture, with sales numbers declining 0.4%. It's not a huge discrepancy between shipping and sales figures, but it's the difference between being in the red and being in the black for the quarter.