With the iPhone 5′s impending launch, the worldwide mobile phone market experienced a decrease in the second quarter of 2012, according to research firm Gartner.
Sales fell by 2.3 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago, with the reason for the decline being the “challenging economic environment”, Gartner stated. The company also attributed the decrease to consumers waiting for Apple’s iPhone 5 to launch.
Samsung, meanwhile, experienced strong sales for their flagship Galaxy smartphone series, with the Galaxy S3 shipping 10 million just two months after its launch.
While worldwide smartphone sales are up 42 per cent (with mobile devices selling 419 million units in the quarter), Apple trailed behind Android’s dominance of the market (Google’s platform owns 64 per cent share of the global phone market) with an 18.8 percent share.
The iPhone 5 is due to be announced on September 12th by Apple during a press conference, with pre-orders expected to commence following the unveil. A launch is expected to follow a week later in the United States, with international markets due to receive the device during the opening stages of October.