News

30 July 2010

 

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

Global mobile handset shipments grew 13% year-on-year from 273 million in second-quarter 2009 to 308 million units in second-quarter 2010, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics in its report ‘Q2 2010 Global Handset Market Share Update’.

This growth rate is less than the 17% average over the previous two quarters, but still well above the minus 8% year-on-year drop recorded in the recession of Q2/2009, says Strategy Analytics’ senior analyst Bonny Joy.

“Handset volumes slowed a little in the second quarter of 2010,” comments Strategy Analytics director Neil Mawston. “There are no credible signs yet of any major double-dip downturn in the handset industry, but that could of course change quickly if overall economic conditions were to deteriorate again across the major markets of North America, Western Europe and Asia in the coming months.”

Blackberry-maker RIM (Research In Motion) and Samsung outgrew their major top five rivals, due to robust demand for QWERTY phones and touchphones. RIM maintained fourth position, growing its market share from 2.9% in Q2/2009 to 3.6% in Q2/2010 (with unit shipments growing 40% from 8m to 11.2m). Second-place Samsung grew its market share from 19.1% in Q2/2009 (and 19.8% for full-year 2009) to 20.7% in Q2/2010 (growing unit shipments 22% from 52.3m to 63.8m).

Samsung continues to edge ahead of third-place LG (whose market share has dropped from 10.9% to 10%, as unit shipments grew just 2.7% from 29.8m to 30.6m), and nearer to first-place Nokia (whose market share has dropped from 37.8% to 36.1%, with unit shipments growing a modest 7.7% from 103.2m to 111.1m).

Both fifth-place Sony Ericsson (whose market share has fallen from 5.1% to 3.6%, as unit shipments fell 20.3% from 13.8m to 11m) and former top-five firm Motorola have continued their steady transformation into smartphone specialists, as they ramped up their Android portfolios. Smartphones now account for a third of Motorola’s total handset shipments, and these high-value devices are helping to stabilize the firm’s financial outlook.

Apple’s iPhone shipments rose 61% from 5.2m in Q2/2009 to 8.4m in Q2/2010, with market share edging up from 2% to almost 3%. However, Apple had a mixed Q2/2010, as criticism about its products and production methods mounted, notes Strategy Analytics.

See related items:

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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