Smartphone sales increase 27%, Gartner reports

Aug 13, 2009 09:14 GMT  ·  By

According to a recent report from Gartner, Inc, the worldwide mobile phone sales went down by 6.1 percent during the second quarter of the ongoing year when compared to the same time frame a year ago. However, out of a total of 286.1 million units sold in the quarter, more than 40 million were smartphones, the research firm says, which means that this market segment has seen a year-on-year growth of 27 percent, proving one of the fastest-growing areas in the mobile phone market.

“Smartphone sales were strong during the second quarter of 2009, with sales of 40.9 million units in line with Gartner's forecast of 27 per cent year-on-year sales growth for 2009. Given the higher margins, smartphones offer the biggest opportunity for manufacturers. It is the fastest-growing market segment and the most resistant to declining ASPs,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner. “For the remainder of 2009, manufacturers must offer products with the features that consumers and operators are demanding most strongly — like touchscreens, focus on user interfaces and application/content ecosystems — and work hard to keep operators loyal.”

Gartner also notes that the recession affected replacement sales both in developed and emerging markets, and that the distribution channel has seen an impressive drop in demand. According to the research firm, the distribution channel was forced to use up to 13.9 million units of the existing stock before proceeding to new orders. Based on the firm's expectations, things should improve greatly in the second half of the ongoing year, as the channel will restock.

When it comes to manufacturers, Nokia remained on the first position in the top, with a focus on the low-end market, as its high-end Nokia N97 device was sold in only 500k units in the channel. Samsung and LG follow on the second and third positions, with strong sales in the quarter, Gartner notes. The former sold 55 million units in the three-month period, while the latter shipped 30.5 million units. According to the research firm, the two might get even closer to Nokia in the second half of the year.

In the smartphone area, Nokia is still the leader, with a market share of 45 percent and 18,441 million units sold, followed by Research In Motion with an 18.7 percent market share and 7,678.9 million units sold. Apple has seen a great increase (509 percent) in sales in the quarter compared to last year, reaching 5,434.7 million units, and remaining on the third place in the top. HTC is still on the fourth position, where it fell in Q3 2008, yet it registered a 1.9 percent increase in market share.