GfK says mobile handset sales in the UK fell by 1.3 per cent year-on-year in terms of value during October as the credit crunch began to hit consumers in the pocket.

There is a silver living to the news, however, with the research asserting that feature rich phones continue to boom.

GfK says the likes of the BlackBerry Bold, HTC G1 and Sony Ericsson Xperia have ensured that what it calls the 'Advanced Operating System' market has grown more than 60 per cent compared to the same period last year.

However, this is not enough to offset overall market decline as the Advanced Operating System segment represents 15 per cent of total mobile handset sales (versus only 9.2 per cent in October 2007).

GfK analyst David Evans said: "Consumers seem to be cautious with Christmas shopping and are waiting for the best deals to be launched. They are effectively delaying their purchases until closer to Christmas Eve.

"The handset market was down in the middle two weeks of November, fluctuating between -13 per cent and -9 per cent compared to the same period last year. However, it looks like sales are now finally picking up on week 47 and only down by four per cent."