Old man Motorola pushed down to eighth place in iSuppli's 1Q10 sales analysis
Research In Motion and Apple rose to the fifth and sixth positions in iSuppli's global handset sales rankings for 1Q10, with Motorola falling by 42.2 per cent year-on-year to eighth place.
RIM achieved the best results of the Top 10 handset makers in Q1, with shipments rising by 3.6 per cent compared to 4Q09 to reach 10.5 million. It rose from eighth to fifth position as a result.
Apple shipped 8.8 million handsets in 1Q10, giving it a 3.04 per cent share of global shipments and sixth position in the rankings, up from ninth place in 1Q09.
RIM and Apple were the only smartphone brands among the Top 10 to achieve sequential quarterly growth.
Motorola, meanwhile, posted a 29.2 percent decline in 1Q10 shipments to 8.5 million units, down from 12 million units in 4Q09.
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First-ranked Nokia’s market share in 1Q10 slipped to 37.4 per cent, down slightly from 37.9 per cent during the same period in 2009, as its shipments declined by 15.1 per cent sequentially.
Samsung’s limited decline in shipments allowed the company to increase its market share to 22.3 per cent in the first quarter, compared to 20.6 per cent during the same period in 2009.
Third-ranked LG suffered a 20.1 decline in shipments, causing its market share to decrease to 9.4 per cent, down from 10.1 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2009.
Sony Ericsson in fourth place suffered a 28.1 per cent decline in shipments, causing its share to decline to 3.6 per cent, down from 4.4 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2009.
Tina Teng, senior analyst of wireless communications at iSuppli, said: “Smart phones represent the hottest segment of the cell phone market, with unit shipment growth of 35.5 per cent expected in 2010, compared to 11.3 per cent for the overall mobile handset business.
"Because of this, companies that are exclusively focused on this area, like RIM and Apple, have managed to move up to near the top-tier of the global cell phone business. This shows that the smart phone is reshaping the competitive landscape of the wireless business.”
