Smartphone shipments are forecast to increase to 435 million units and account for 80 per cent of total global handset shipments in the fourth quarter, according to IC Insights.

Just 10 quarters ago, in Q1 2013, smartphones made up slightly more than 50 per cent of mobile phone shipments.

Global smartphone shipments in Q1 2015 increased by 21 per cent year-on-year to reach 345 million, which, although strong, reflects slowed growth due to increasing penetration in major markets such as US, Europe and China, according to Strategy Analytics.

Shipments of feature phones, meanwhile, dropped 23 per cent last year, after falling 18 per cent in 2013. IC Insights expects non-smartphone shipments to decline 27 per cent this year, DigiTimes reported.

Total mobile phone shipments increased by only 5 per cent last year and are forecast to grow by only 3 per cent this year.

The market leaders — Samsung and Apple – shipped almost 504 million smartphone in 2014, but their combined smartphone market share dropped 7 points to 40 per cent from the previous year. The top six China-based smartphone makers last year expanded their global share to 29 per cent from 21 per cent in 2013.