Shipments of smartphones in the Japan market in 2014 declined for the second straight year by 5.3% to 27.7 million units, according to a Chinese-language QQ.com report citing data from MM Research Institute.

However, shipments of clam-shell handsets grew 5.7% on year to 1.058 million units in 2014, the first rise in seven years, MM Research said.

With the penetration rate of handsets in the Japan market already reaching 98.5% and a total of 125 million handsets in use, there is little room for a significant growth in shipments, MM Research said, adding that clam-shell handsets may not be able to duplicate growth in 2015.