Gartner says destocking and grey market sales put market up 0.1 per cent in Q3
It doesn't sound like much, but the news will be warmly welcomed by an industry that has endured a torrid 12 months at the hands of the global recession.
Specifically, Gartner says global mobile phone sales totalled 308.9 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 0.1 per cent increase from the third quarter of 2008.
Even more encouraging for the content sector, smartphone sales surpassed 41 million units, representing a 12.8 per cent increase from the same period last year.
Gartner predicts that 4Q09 will also show YoY growth for the market as a whole.
In terms of manufacturers, Nokia's market share declined 1.5 percentage points year-on-year, due in part to component shortages that may continue into the fourth quarter.
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Samsung had a strong third quarter of 2009 with touchscreen devices, qwerty phones and smartphones driving sales in the mature markets of Western Europe and the US.
LG showed solid performance across the market with its touchscreen and messaging phones like the Cookie and KS360, but most of its sales were of mid-tier phones, in part due to its lack of a smartphone portfolio.
Worldwide Handset Market Share, 3Q09
Nokia - 36.7
Samsung - 19.6
LG - 10.3
Motorola - 4.5
Sony Ericsson - 4.3
Worldwide Smartphone Market Share, 3Q09
Nokia - 39.3
RIM - 20.8
Apple - 17.1
HTC - 6.5
Samsung - 3.2
Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, said: “Many devices will reach the market in time for Christmas, and mobile carriers will run incentives for consumers during the holidays. We expect sales of mobile devices in the fourth quarter of 2009 to show year-over-year growth. As many vendors and industry watchers call for a decrease in sales into the channel, our sell through data is showing that 2009 performance will be flat rather than down over 2008.”
