Are global mobile phone sales cooling off

It appears they are based on recent numbers. The numbers don’t completely tell the tale, but they give us some indication what’s really happening out there.

Sales of mobile phones to consumers totaled 229 million units, an increase of 18.3 percent from the same period last year, which is a slowdown from the 23.8 percent growth in the first quarter, market research group Gartner said in a report.

That could be considered the bad news. The good news is that industry will sell over 960 million mobile phones this year.

Part of the reduction in numbers is more units are now selling at lower prices worldwide. You have maturing markets in the US and Europe, with most growth now coming from Asia.