According to IDC the W. European mobile phone market fails to grow in 2014, making for a 2nd consecutive year of shipment declines-- a clear sign of saturation as overall 2014 shipments drop by -5.2% to 174.1 million units.

The feature phone segment is worst hit, with shipments dropping by 39% to 28.4m units and revenues worth $1.4 billion. IDC describes feature phones as nothing less than a niche segment, one representing just 16% of 2014 shipments and 2.2% of total market value.

According to Canalys Android Wear devices make 720000 out of overall 2014 smart wearable shipments reaching 4.6 million, with Motorola as "clear leader" despite constrained Moto 360 supplies.

Other Android Wear contenders include LG (whose G Watch R performed "significantly better" than the previous G Watch), Asus and Sony.

In non-Android wearables, the Pebble sees success since its 2013 launch, wit shipments reaching 1m units thanks tp continual software updates, a healthy app store and price cuts driving strong H2 2014 sales.

Apple might claim its biggest iPhone-driven quarter ever, but Android also reaches a milestone in 2014-- global Google-powered smartphone shipments reach 1 billion units in 2014, a first according to Strategy Analytics.

The analyst says overall 2014 smartphone shipments total 1.3bn (another industry record) with 30% growth, up from 1bn in 2013. Android device account for 81% of the total, one driven by shipments in emerging markets such as China and Indonesia.

The only threat to Android is, of course, iOS-- 2014 iPhone shipments total 192.7m with 15% smartphone share according to the analyst, as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models reenergise Apple growth through high-end market sales. On the other hand Windows Phone remains niche with 3% share and shipments reaching 38.8m units.

According to Futuresource Consulting both smartphone and tablet markets are reaching saturation in W. Europe, but while smartphone shipments continue to grow the same cannot be said on a tablet market headed for decline.

In fact, the analyst says major markets have reached tablet saturation earlier than expected, and as such W. European tablet shipments are slowing down during 2015 before consumer shipment start declining by 2017.

Apple and Samsung make "more than half" of 2014 tablet shipments.

"There has been a significant shift towards smaller screen sizes in the last few years, but this is now stabilising, with 60% of the market falling into the 7- to 8-inch category in 2014," Futuresource adds. "In the UK, overall tablet shipments declined by 2%, despite double digit growth in the total W. European market and 24% growth in E. Europe."