Smartphones overtake feature phones for the first time

For the first time ever, smartphone shipments have surpassed 50% of the global mobile phone market meaning it's only a matter of time before the devices are truly ubiquitous.

The figures, published Friday by IDC for the first quarter of 2013, show that the global mobile phone market has grown 4% year on year. This translates as 418.6 million total devices of which 216.2 million, or 51.6%, were smartphones.