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The share of smartphones out of all handsets used by Finns increased to 60 per cent in 2014 from 53 per cent in 2013. Out of the fifteen most popular handset models in Finland, twelve are smartphones, and Apple’s iPhone 4S smartphone overtook Nokia’s C2-01 standard model as number one on the list. This is all according to a mobile handset population study conducted at the Aalto University Department of Communications and Networking.

– The rise of this smartphone model to the top of the list makes it the new “standard phone”, points out Professor Heikki Hämmäinen.

– The basic concept of the smartphone has now established itself, and the development of its features will mainly focus on quality. New device features will mostly be related to sensors. The most recent basic concepts, such as the smartwatch and smartglasses, are still such fledglings that they are barely detectable in our data.

The race of the big three

Apple, Nokia/Microsoft and Samsung still dominate the handset manufacturing market, with a 92 per cent combined share of all devices currently in use. The share of Nokia/Microsoft fell to 55 per cent (63 per cent in 2013) and that of Samsung increased to 26.5 per cent (20 per cent in 2013), while Apple maintained its position at around ten per cent.

– The most popular smartphone operating system is still Android, whose share has risen to 25.5 per cent (17 per cent in 2013) out of all mobile handsets. The second most popular system is Windows (16 per cent), followed by Apple iOS (10.5 per cent). The popularity of the Symbian system by Nokia has continued its decline, says the person behind the study, Doctoral candidate Alexandr Vesselkov.

Touchscreens are steadily becoming more popular. The share of touchscreen handsets increased from 51 per cent to 58 per cent. Their share has especially been boosted by the demand for four-inch displays and upwards.

The latest technological generation in wireless data transfer, 4G/LTE, has gained users more quickly than any of the previous generations.

The latest technological generation in wireless data transfer, 4G/LTE, has gained users more quickly than any of the previous generations.Almost one in five handsets currently in use has a LTE feature.

The material for the study was collected in cooperation with Finnish mobile network operators. The handset models’ feature data was provided by GfK Finland as well as public sources. The material covers 80–99 per cent of all devices using mobile networks during the end of September 2014.

Aalto University has been involved in longitudinal research on handsets and the spread and life cycle of their technologies since 2005.

To view the Mobile Handset Population in Finland 2005-2014 study, click on this link (pdf).

Further information, please contact:

Doctoral candidate Alexandr Vesselkov
alexandr.vesselkov@aalto.fi
Tel. +358 (0)50 434 2879

Professor Heikki Hämmäinen
heikki.hammainen@aalto.fi
Tel. +358 (0)50 384 1696