Mobile phone sales down 21% across Australia and New Zealand

Mobile phone sales in Australia and New Zealand were down 21% year-on-year during the second quarter of 2013, according to surprising new market research figures from IDC.

The mobile phone figures include both smartphone and featurephone sales, with the figures also showing a 5% quarter-on-quarter decline from the first quarter of 2013.

The figures also show a 26% decline in notebook PC sales and a 10% drop in desktop PC sales, while demand for tablets grew by 25%.

“Retailers remained heavily stocked with inventory since Q4 last year, while the end of financial year did not spur consumer spending as much as past years,” IDC says in a statement.

“Local channels and retailers were also reluctant to take in new shipments to minimise risk prior to their fiscal year-end quarter.”

In total, 4.77 million desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones were shipped to Australia during the quarter.

That figure includes around 2.6 million mobile phones, 906,000 tablets, 715,000 notebooks and 470,000 desktop computers.