Average Phone Thickness Drops Below 14mm

­Mobile phones are getting thinner, and customers can rely on their mobile phone batteries lasting longer, according to a Strategy Analytics SpecTRAX database service report. During July 2009 a total of 109 new handsets were announced somewhere in the world, including 9 phones from LG and 11 from Samsung, one of which was the new Android-based GT-i7500L.

Only basic details were available for most of these phones, but, analysis of the 53 models for which specifications were available has determined that:

• Average mobile phone thickness was 13.96 mm in July, the lowest figure on record;
• USB support appears in 85% of all the new handsets, another high, and up from 60% two years ago;
• 87 percent of new phones contain a memory card slot--this number is up from 71% two years ago;
• Despite the shift to 3G networks, batteries on this new crop of phones last, on average, more than 25 percent longer than models from two years ago.

Stuart Robinson, Director of the SpecTRAX handset database service, said, "Strategy Analytics notes that feature penetration continues to grow, while size and weight continue to decline, partly due to advancements in semiconductor integration and packaging techniques. The trend toward thinner handsets may slow down soon as the compromise between small size and robustness becomes more of a factor."

The SpecTRAX service of Strategy Analytics tracks handset announcements from over 150 mobile phone brands and vendors globally across all air interfaces. SpecTRAX currently comprises detailed specifications for over 9,000 handset models with over a million data points.

Posted to the site on 7th October 2009