It will come as no surprise to many people that the mobile phone market is going to be hit just as hard as any other industry this year, with sales declining noticeably as potential customers decide to keep hold of their precious pennies in these dark economic times.

However, the mobile phone is something that people simply cannot live without any more. So, how exactly are the phone manufacturers feeling the pinch? The answer to this question lies in increasing sales of lower-end phones.

We may have been getting bombarded with a whole slew of impressive new phones during recent weeks and months, including the Blackberry Storm, the iPhone 3G, and the Nokia N97. However, tempting as these models may be, people seem to be watching their money with wary eyes during a period which has traditionally seen people going all out and treating themselves to a few of those desirable luxuries that they have been pining after for so long.

According to Dialaphone, phones under the £30 mark have seen the biggest sales increase, as they often represent decent phones that do their job but just lack all the features of the latest and most impressive handsets on the market. The CarPhone Warehouse was even offering the Nokia 1650 for free recently, along with free texts for a month, as long as it was purchased with £30 worth of credit.

It seems that people are wary about becoming involved with long and expensive contracts in the current economic environment. Therefore, until things calm down, people will be happier buying pay-as-you-go handsets and simply making fewer calls.