US consumers buying fewer cell phones

US consumers have been buying significantly fewer cell phones but paying higher prices for them, says NPD Group, a research firm. 28 million cell phones were sold in the United States in the second quarter, a decline of 13 percent from the same period a year ago. It was the third quarter in a row with a year-over-year decline, and the lowest number of phones sold since NPD began tracking the category in 2005. However, the phones that were sold tended to have more features and be more expensive, and the total value of the market was down only 2 percent from a year ago, at $2.4 billion.