Compare Itel VS Nokia Feature Phone Market Globally

By Carrie Tsai,  Last Updated: January 04, 2019

Smartphones will soon be saturated, but feature phones are surprisingly well done and are expected to grow in developing countries in the future. In contrast with the global smartphone market which is experiencing negative growth, feature phones have contributed to 23 per cent of the total handset shipments in the third quarter this year, a new report has said.

According to Counterpoint, feature phone shipments grew for the fourth consecutive quarter. The countries and regions where feature phones are fighting against smartphones are the Middle East, Africa and India, followed by Asia, Central and Latin America, Europe and other countries in North America.

Counterpoint attributed the growth of the feature machine to the HMD Nokia phone, which is second only to iTel.

“Itel, which also has localized products, is very popular in the African market, which has helped it become the world's largest specialty mobile phone brand,” he added.

Jio said in a blog post that most of the growth in Jio's shipments in India came from the Middle East and Africa, where shipments increased by 32%, making it a The world's largest featured mobile phone market.

In emerging countries such as Africa and India, battery life has become an important factor in the choice of mobile phones. The battery life of feature phones is much longer than that of smartphones.

Feature phones are also being used as a secondary device for calling by many users on account of their high battery life," the report noted.

Like smartphones, feature phones are also being upgraded from 2G to 3G, and now upgrade to 4G. Apps and devices that used to be part of a smartphone have also become feature phones," Mishra said.

According to the report, functional phones will continue to be important for at least the next five years, given the lack of penetration in emerging markets. The report adds that new low-income users who will experience mobile phones for the first time may purchase a feature phone first.

It should be noted that feature phones are no longer the same as they were 10 years ago. The new feature phone features LTE and can play YouTube videos, enough to run other popular apps like Facebook, WhatsApp and more. The definition of functional machines has also changed over the past few years.