News

2 August 2010

 

Global handset shipments exceed 321 million in Q2/2010

Second-quarter 2010 proved to be a very solid quarter for the mobile handset market, with handsets shipments growing 5.9% quarter-on-quarter and 19.4% year-on-year to 321.2 million, of which WCDMA handsets comprised 31%, according to ABI Research.

“Mobile phone users seem to be shrugging off their economic woes and going handset shopping,” says practice director Kevin Burden. “It is remarkable that the smartphone is starting to appeal to a very wide market cross-section. The smartphone is about to go multi-generational, and the popularity of the number-one handset form-factor, the ‘candy-bar’, could be waning,” he adds.

Nokia continued to shed market share, falling to 34.5% in Q2. Nokia has been undertaking some serious reorganization, says ABI. R&D has been more closely aligned with business priorities. The firm has been piling on resources to iron out the code needed to meet expectations for Symbian OS and MeeGo.

LG’s market share increased to 9.5%, but South Korean compatriot Samsung’s seven-quarter streak of increasing quarter-on-quarter market share has come to an end. The firm attributes this to the decline in the European economic outlook. “Samsung is still gunning for Nokia’s pre-eminent spot, but we will have to see if Samsung’s recent smartphone launches, such as the Galaxy S, will help it resume its march on Nokia,” comments VP for forecasting Jake Saunders.

Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna media melee took the edge off Q2/2010 shipments, comments ABI, as market share actually shrank slightly to 2.6%. Apple is still cranking up inventory, but sales should have “wowed more” at this stage of the iPhone 4’s product release cycle.

Blackberry-maker RIM (Research In Motion), with market share of 3.5%, has been able to build cachet around the strength of its messaging platform, combining strong design aesthetics with a decent set of entertainment-orientated features that are helping RIM to expand its appeal, says ABI.

Motorola’s Q2 numbers were down on Q1, at 8.3 million (market share of 2.6%). The firm has won critical acclaim for a number of its latest smartphones, but has experienced challenges ramping up product awareness and access to markets, notes ABI.

See related items:

Year-on-year handset growth slows from 17% to 13% in Q2

Smartphone shipments jump 43% year-on-year to 59.5 million in Q2

Smartphone shipments jump 50% to 54m in Q1/2010

Handset sales grow 19% year-on-year to Q1 record of 291 million

Handset market returns to growth in Q4/2009

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