Feature phones continue filling recycle bins as smartphone sales consume the handsets market, rising 20 percent in the last quarter alone, according to reports.
The trade-off of feature phones for smartphones saw the mobile market experience flat sales in the third quarter of 2014, according to Gartner Research. While smartphone sales climbed by 20 percent, units of feature phones moved to end users fell by approximately 25 percent.
"Sales of feature phones declined 25 percent in the third quarter of 2014 because the difference in price between feature phones and low-cost Android smartphones is reducing further," says Roberta Cozza, a research director at Gartner.
The launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus spurred the smartphone market. Smartphone sales rose by about 19 percent in the U.S., but the new Apple products didn't stop the European market from seeing a 5.2 percent decline.
As the fourth quarter of 2014 winds down, Annette Zimmermann, a research director at Gartner, warns that analysts should not underestimate the surge from China's handsets manufacturers.
"Chinese players will continue to look at expanding in overseas emerging markets," says Zimmerman. "In Europe, prepaid country markets and attractive low-cost LTE phones will also offer key opportunities for these brands."
One Chinese hardware manufacturer is rumored to be finalizing plans to enter the U.S. mobile market, while another has recently removed its cloak and announced that it has been here for quite some time.
Back in September, ZTE debuted its ZMax phablet and stated its intentions to make its presence in the U.S. known.
"Putting devices with the ZTE logo in your consumers hands is the No. 1 way to build your brand," Lixin Cheng, CEO of ZTE's U.S. division, stated back in September.
Meanwhile, there have been reports indicating that Xiaomi is planning to introduce the next version of its Mi series to the U.S. at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Xiaomi has already passed global leader Samsung in China and has been stepping up its efforts to establish its presence in India, an emerging market the mobile device manufacturer projects will rival the market in its home country in a few years.
Chinese manufacturers Huawei and Xiaomi combined for roughly 10.5 percent of the global market for smartphones. While Samsung's 24.4 percent share dwarfs that figure, Cozza said the Chinese brands are in great position to undercut both Apple and Samsung even more.
"With the ability to undercut cost and offer top specs, Chinese brands are well-positioned to expand in the premium phone market, too, and address the needs of upgrade users that aspire to premium phones, but cannot afford Apple or Samsung high-end products," says Cozza.
