Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached 419.1 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 2 per cent decline from the first quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. This is the first time since the second quarter of 2009 that the market exhibited a decline.

"Global sales of mobile devices declined more than expected due to a slowdown in demand from the Asia/Pacific region," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. "The first quarter, traditionally the strongest quarter for Asia - which is driven by Chinese New Year, saw a lack of new product launches from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better smartphone deals arriving later in the year."