Mobile sales continue to grow in Brazil

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Sales of mobile phones have seen sustained growth during the third quarter of 2016, with consumers willing to spend more on devices, according to analyst firm IDC.

Some 12,556 million devices were sold in the country between July and September, of which 11,136 million were smartphones and 1,419 million feature phones. This means a 7.2 percent uplift in relation to the same period of 2015 and 4.2 percent growth in comparison to the second quarter of 2016.

Feature phones saw a 48.4 percent increase in sales during the period, while smartphones had a 3.6 percent sales increase compared to the third quarter of 2015, according to the IDC study.

Of all the smartphones sold, 95.5 percent were Android-based while iOS-based iPhones represented 4.5 percent of all sales.

The Brazilian mobile phone market returned to growth in the second quarter, up 23.1 percent in relation to the first quarter of the year. This follows the sales slowdown of the first quarter, partly driven by a recession.

According to IDC, Brazilian consumers are becoming more mature in terms of mobile phone purchasing and usage patterns. The analyst adds that while 76.1 percent of the phones sold in Q3 cost up to R$999 ($298), the demand for premium options above R$3000 ($894) is growing fast and local competition within that space is fierce.

In terms of revenue, the Brazilian smartphone market reached R$ 10.7 billion ($3.1 billion) from July to September, with feature phone sales totaling R$ 179.8 million (53.6 million).