According to Gartner, Sony Ericsson slipped to fifth place in global mobile phone market share during the first-quarter of 2008, overtaken by Korean vendor LG.
Sony Ericsson sold 22.1 million units in the quarter for a 7.5% market share, behind LG’s total sales of 23.6 million units and 8% share. The Swedish-Japanese company previously warned that it was experiencing weakened demand in the European mid-to-high-end device market.
On the other hand, Nokia continued its dominance in the first-quarter, growing its market share to 39.1% on sales of 115.2 million units, up from 35.5% share in the same period last year. Samsung was in second position, increasing its share from 12.4% to 14.4% on sales of 42.4 million units, whilst Motorola’s troubles continued. The US handset maker saw a sharp drop in the quarter, selling 29.9 million units to give it a market share of 10.2%, compared to 18.4% last year.
Gartner forecasts worldwide mobile phone sales will continue to rise between 10 and 15 percent in 2008. Emerging markets will drive the growth, but the value of the market will be lower than expected. The analyst firm added that West European mobile phone sales fell 16.4% in the first-quarter compared with the year-earlier period. Worldwide sales, however, reached 294.3 million units in the first quarter, a 13.6% increase from sales last year.
[Via: CNN]