NPD: Americans Still Love Simple Phones

By Geoff Duncan August 16, 2007

NPD: Americans Still Love Simple Phones

New mobile phone sales figures from market research firm The NPD Group show that U.S. mobile phone sales were up 14 percent in the second quarter of 2007 compared the the same quarter of 2006, with sales of over $2.4 billion. Although that’s a decline of 17 percent compared to sales during the first quarter of the year, the U.S. mobile phone industry traditionally sees a sales slump during the second quarter, so a 14 percent year-on-year improvement isn’t too shabby.

However, other numbers in the NPD data shed some light on American’s phone-buying preferences. While U.S. buyers are opting for new capabilities and high-end phone features (like Internet browsing and 2 megapixel cameras) there are plenty of Americans who like to keep their phones simple, cheap, or free. Among phones purchased on the second quarter of 2007, 28 percent were free to the consumer, often through rebates and other promotions, and another 28 percent cost buyers less than $50; totaled up, that means more than half (56 percent) the phones sold in the U.S. during the second quarter of 2007 were either free or low cost, and (thus) unlikely to offer Internet data features, high-resolution cameras, or other leading edge features. NPD found that only 11 percent of phones sold in the second quarter cost more than $150, and only 4 percent cost buyers more than $250.

NPD figures do show a growing market penetration of new mobile phone features, however: almost 70 percent of phones sold in the second quarter had some sort of Bluetooth capability, which is an increase of 9 percent compared to sales in the first quarter of the year. NPD also found that 45 percent of phones sold had music playback capability (a number suspiciously almost the inverse of the number of free or sub-$50 phones sold in the quarter), and 11 percent of phones sold were considered smartphones. Some 5 percent of new mobile phones offered a camera with a resolution of two or more megapixels.

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Mobile

3 foldable phone deals you should seriously consider today

The Google Pixel Fold with the screen open.

For those who are thinking about getting a foldable phone, we've rounded up three foldable phone deals for you to consider as your next purchase. Motorola is currently selling the Motorola Razr at $200 off, which brings its price down to $500 from $700, and the Motorola Razr Plus at $300 off, which lowers its price to $700 from $1,000. Meanwhile, the Google Pixel Fold is available from Best Buy with a $500 discount that slashes its price to $1,299 from $1,799. You can be sure that you won't regret purchasing any of these devices because they're all included in our roundup of the best folding phones, but you need to hurry because the offers may expire at any moment.
Motorola Razr -- $500, was $700

The Motorola Razr features a 1.5-inch external OLED display and a 6.9-inch Full HD+ internal pOLED display, with decent performance provided by its Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor and 8GB of RAM. It's got a 64MP main camera and a 13MP wide-angle camera at the back, plus a 32MP selfie camera inside. The folding phone features a metal chassis that's surrounded by soft but durable leather, and it folds without a gap.

Mobile

Something odd is happening with Samsung’s two new budget phones

A person holding the Samsung Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A55.

The Samsung Galaxy A35 (left) and Galaxy A55 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy A55 for almost two weeks and have now swapped my SIM card over to the Samsung Galaxy A35. These are the latest entries in Samsung's budget-minded Galaxy-A series. In all honestly, I can barely tell the difference between them.

Mobile

The first HMD Android phones are here, and they’re super cheap

Rear shell of HMD Vibe smartphone.

Finnish company Human Mobile Devices is renewing its journey under the HMD branding, shedding aside the Nokia naming it used to use for all of its smartphones. The first handsets to bear the HMD branding are the HMD Pulse, HMD Pulse+, HMD Pulse Pro, and the HMD Vibe. All phones share similar aesthetics, with a few splashy colors thrown in for certain trims, and target the budget segment.

The HMD Vibe, for example, serves a 6.56-inch display with an HD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 680 silicon runs the show, alongside 4GB of RAM and 128GB storage. Notably, there’s a microSD card slot that supports storage expansion up to 512GB.