LG Placed Third on the Mobile Phone Market

The mobile phone market has seen several changes at the end of 2008, and one of the most important ones is that LG Electronics managed to place itself on the third position, outpacing both Sony Ericsson and Motorola. The Korean manufacturer still has Nokia and Samsung ahead, which are expected to announce their yearly results in a matter of days.

In 2008, LG sold 100 million mobile phones, which would be only 0.1 million more than the fourth-placed Motorola. Sony Ericsson, on the other hand, managed to sell just 96.6 million units last year and occupies only the fifth position, although the company was previously placed better in the chart.

Sony Ericsson's future doesn't look too bright, especially considering the financial results it posted last week. At the same time, Motorola is also known to experience some economical problems, and it has been rumored to not be able to overcome the current crisis too well. For the time being, LG and Samsung are reported to be the manufacturers that are placed best during the downturn. Samsung made it to the second position and managed to sell 200 million units in 2008.

The first position goes to Nokia, which shipped 470 million units last year, marking a huge gap between its sales and those recorded by the following positions. On the other hand, the Finnish giant also experienced some hard times during the fourth quarter of last year, and some even hesitated on calling 2008 a successful year for the company, although it accounts for the largest share on the handset global market.

The estimations on Samsung and Nokia were made by LG, and it’s not certain at this point whether the numbers are real or not. More light will be shed on the matter as of tomorrow, when Nokia is expected to announce its financial results for 2008.