Across the entire world, feature phones still outsell smartphones, according to a report from Gartner, by a margin of 27 per cent. 264.4m feature phone units shipped in Q4, 2012, compared to 207.7m smartphones – but while smartphone shipments were up 38.3 per cent year-on-year, but feature phones dropped by 19.3 per cent, dragging down total mobile sales by 1.7 per cent.

Gartner predicts that smartphone sales will finally overtake feature phones in 2013, making up nearly 1bn of the 1.9bn total units sold this year.

In terms of smartphone manufacturers, Samsung came out on top in Q4, with a total 64.5 units sold. Together with Apple, which took a comfortable second with 43.5m sales, it accounted for 52 per cent of all smartphones sold around the world.

“There is no manufacturer that can firmly lay claim to the #3 spot in global smartphone sales,” said Mr. Gupta. “The success of Apple and Samsung is based on the strength of their brands as much as their actual products. Their direct competitors, including those with comparable products, struggle to achieve the same brand appreciation among consumers, who, in a tough economic environment, go for cheaper products over brand.”

Meanwhile, Android led the way on the OS front, with a 69.7 per cent market share – a growth of 87.8 per cent year-on-year – putting it in a distant lead. iOS accounted for 20.9 per cent of smartphone sales, leaving just 9.4 per cent for other platforms. RIM held the third spot, with a 3.5 per cent share, but sales dropped 44.4 per cent year-on-year, while sales of devices running Microsofts Windows Phone OS grew by 124.2 per cent, to give it a 3.0 per cent share.