It appears that quite a few in the mobile space could be waiting patiently for Apple to deliver their next iOS smartphone in the form of the iPhone 5, as apparently global sales of mobile phones have dropped for the first time since 2009, apparently due to those awaiting the arrival of the iPhone 5.
According to an article over on Forbes, Gartner is reporting that the drop in handset sales is partly due to those waiting to upgrade their current iOS smartphone to the iPhone 5 when it eventually releases, or others waiting to swap from their device to the new iPhone, and in part due to a downturn in the Asian markets.
In their latest quarterly report, Gartner claims that 419.1 million mobile phones were sold in Q1 of 2012, which is a 2 percent drop or 20 million devices when compared to the same period a year previous.
Anshul Gupta, an analyst for Gartner has said that they were not expecting a slowdown in Asia, and China is normally a big first quarter market; however customers are holding off upgrading and waiting for other high end devices such as the new iPhone from Apple.
The analyst also said that Apple’s new iPhone, currently being called the iPhone 5 will continue to have a negative impact on handset sales.
However, the research company confirms that old Sammy is now the top handset and smartphone vendor in the world, and has overtaken both Nokia and Apple, and Samsung Android handsets now account for in excess of 40% of all Android smartphone global sales in Q1.
So it would appear that drop in mobile market sales looks to be placed at the door of the iPhone user, so we’d like to ask our readers if they are holding off purchasing a new smartphone and waiting for Apple to deliver the next iPhone, feel free to let us know by dropping us a line to our comments area below.