Smart Phones Gain as Midrange Handsets Suffer

Global sales of smart phones continued to rise in the second quarter as customers sought more features for their money, research firm Gartner said Wednesday. However, the overall mobile-phone market declined from a year earlier for the third consecutive quarter, though the decline was at a slower pace than in the previous quarter, Gartner said in its quarterly report on the industry. The rapid downturn in consumer spending has hammered the wider market as customers delay upgrades and hold off buying new phones. Prices of phones have been falling as phone companies and vendors try to stimulate demand. However, sales of smart phones are on the rise as vendors and wireless companies focus on marketing these devices in the hope of making more revenue per device. Consumers who would usually buy midrange phones are either now purchasing smart phones, which offer features such as email, or are trading down to less-expensive handsets, said Gartner's research director, Carolina Milanesi.