The Western European mobile phone market stalled for the second consecutive year in 2014, with shipments down 5.2 percent year-on-year to 174.1 million units, according to the latest report from IDC. The low-end feature phone segment has now become a niche market, with shipments declining 39 percent year-on-year to 28.4 million units and a total value of USD 1.4 billion. This represents just 16 percent of total units shipped in the year and 2.2 percent of the total market value, said IDC. However, smartphone shipments exceeded 145.8 million units, up 6.4 percent year-on-year, to represent 84 percent of the total number of mobile phones shipped in the region last year. This accounted for USD 62.4 billion in value, up 1.7 percent year-on-year. As a result, seven in ten people in Western Europe now have a smartphone, said IDC, with the success of the new iPhones 6 and 6 Plus, the increasing popularity of phablets and the explosion of devices priced under USD 150 the biggest contributors to growth.
Samsung had a share of 35 percent of the market, ahead of Apple with 21.2 percent, Sony with 10 percent, Microsoft with 6.9 percent and LG with 5.9 percent. Google's operating system Android dominates the market with a share of 71 percent, followed by Apple's iOS with 21 percent and Windows Phone with 6.8 percent. Blackberry only accounts for 0.7 percent and the new Mozilla Firefox OS for 0.07 percent.
According to the report, phablets accounted for nearly 10 percent of smartphones shipped in 2014, sales growing 174 percent to 14.3 million units even though their average selling price (USD 669) was much higher than normal smartphones (USD 428). Samsung, Apple, and LG accounted for 80 percent of the phablets shipped in Europe, said IDC.
In addition, the report highlighted that the market is now divided among three smartphone operating systems - Android, iOS, and Windows Phone – the other operating systems have failed to establish themselves as an alternative. Android will continue to be challenged by iOS in the high-end and Windows Phone in the low-end, said IDC. In this regard, iOS is expected to increase market share in 2015 as the momentum around the new iPhones continues, while Windows Phone is set to grow in the enterprise segment.
