Sales of smartphones rose by 27 per cent during the second quarter of the year, according to Gartner.
Unit shipments passed 40m units during the three-month period, with Gartner pointing to QWERTY and touchscreen as the technologies driving migration to more powerful mobiles.
"Touchscreen and qwerty devices remained a major driver for replacement sales and benefited manufacturers with strong, touch-focused mid-tier devices," commented research director Carolina Milanesi.
However, despite the positive figures, the analyst warned that the recession is having a clear impact on upgrades in both mature and emerging markets.