Mobile phone sales grow 21% in the Portuguese market

In the first three months of the year, mobile phone sales in Portugal increased by 21 percent, compared with data collected for the same period last year, to a total of 1.24 million devices. According to data released today by IDC, smartphones are the segment where sales grew most, increasing 58 percent, according to the IDC Mobile Phone Tracker study.

In the period, traditional telephones also showed some signs of recovery, translating into a growth of 17 percent, for more than one million units sold. This although IDC underlines a trend, when there is a substitution of mobile phones, for the migration from traditional phones to smartphones.

Regarding this transition, the consultant also underlines the existence of an “intermediate passage” from basic phones to feature phones, equipment with some “smartphone” features, such as the ability to surf the Internet, access to social networks and Messenger services such as Facebook, Twitter and Live Messenger, or the possibility of accessing email on the mobile phone, a trend that Samsung and LG have driven, according to the consultant.

The 180 thousand smartphones sold in the first three months of the year represent 15 percent of the total sales of mobile phones in the country, when a year ago they only represented 11 percent. One of the highlights in the segment goes to the Blackberry which captured 17 percent of the market, when in the same period last year it had only 2 percent.

Among the manufacturers that lost the most is Nokia, which although it increased sales by 4 percent, dropped its share by 52 percent. Samsung gained ground and was 3 percentage points from the leader.

IDC data