Apple Inc will need to launch a larger iPhone to compete with large-screen models from handset makers running Google Inc's Android platform, market researcher Canalys said.
Smartphone shipments
totaled 216.3 million during the first three months of the year,
showing a year-on-year growth of 47.9 percent, Canalys said in a report
on Thursday.
Android handsets accounted for 75.6 percent of total smartphone
shipments, while South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co increased its
shipments by 64.3 percent year-on-year to maintain its dominance in the
market with a 32 percent share, the report said.
By contrast, Apple saw modest annual growth of 6.7 percent in
smartphone shipments during the first quarter - the lowest level since
the launch of the first iPhone in 2007.
"Despite its slowing growth, Apple still shipped over 37 million
iPhones," Canalys prinicipal analyst Pete Cunningham said. "But HTC Corp
and Samsung have raised the bar with their latest handsets, and Apple
needs to respond with its next iPhone."
The analyst was referring to Taoyuan-based HTC's 4.7-inch HTC One and
Samsung's 4.99-inch Galaxy S4, both of which are equipped with a
full-high-definition 1080pixel display.
The current iPhone 5 features a smaller 4-inch screen.
Cunningham said the iPhone's user interface "is now six years old and
badly in need of a refresh," while Apple also faces "the dilemma" of
deciding the size of the display on its next iPhone.
"It cannot afford to ignore the trend for larger displays in premium
smartphones. We expect an increase on the iPhone 5's 4-inch display, but
are not anticipating a ‘Phablet'-style iPhone," he said.
A phablet is defined by Transparency Market Research, a global market
intelligence company, as a handset that has a screen of between 5 and 7
inches and features a 1-gigahertz or faster processor.
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