Gartner: Smartphone Sales Grew 27% in Q2 2009
Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 286.1 million units in the Q2 2009, a 6.1 % decrease from the second quarter of 2008, according to Gartner. Smartphone sales surpassed 40 million units, a 27% increase from the same period last year, representing the fastest-growing segment of the mobile-devices market.
Worldwide Mobile Terminal Sales to End Users in 2Q09 (Thousands of Units)
|
Company |
2Q09
Sales |
2Q09 Market
Share (%) |
2Q08
Sales |
2Q08 Market
Share (%) |
|
Nokia |
105,413.3 | 36.8 | 120,353.3 | 39.5 |
|
Samsung |
55,430.2 | 19.3 | 46,376.0 | 15.2 |
|
LG |
30,497.0 | 10.7 | 26,698.9 | 8.8 |
|
Motorola |
15,947.8 | 5.6 | 30,371.8 | 10.0 |
|
Sony Ericsson |
13,574.2 | 4.7 | 22,951.7 | 7.5 |
|
Others |
65,260.2 |
23.0 | 57,970.6 | 19.0 |
|
Total |
286,122.7 |
100 |
304,722.3 |
100 |
Note: This table includes iDEN shipments but excludes ODM-to-OEM shipments.
Source: Gartner (August 2009)
Nokia maintained its leadership position, but its portfolio remained heavily skewed toward low-end devices. Its flagship high-end N97 smartphone met little enthusiasm at its launch in the second quarter of 2009 and has sold just 500,000 units in the channel since it started to ship in June, compared to Apple’s iPhone 3G S, which sold 1 million units in its first weekend.
Samsung and LG both had a very strong second quarter of 2009 with sales of 55 million units and 30.5 million units, respectively. Samsung’s touchscreen devices, qwerty phones and smartphones drove sales in mature markets, and Gartner expects it will continue to gain market share in the second half of 2009 to close the gap with Nokia. Gartner expects LG to keep moving into lower-tier devices to drive growth in emerging markets and be well-positioned to take advantage of China’s 3G rollout as it can deliver good-value-for-money devices. Motorola’s sales of 15.9 million units were slightly better than expected, but its presence has rapidly concentrated on the Americas, and it has lost most of its share of the Western European market, where it sold fewer than 1 million units in the second quarter of 2009. Most operators and customers will be waiting for Motorola’s new Android-based products planned for the fourth quarter of 2009.
Sony Ericsson’s market share dropped 2.8% points year-on-year in the second quarter of 2009 but its volume dropped 41%. Although the market environment was challenging, Gartner attributes Sony Ericsson’s poor performance to its uncompetitive range of handsets.
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users in 2Q09 (Thousands of Units)
|
Company |
2Q09 Sales |
2Q09 Market Share (%) |
2Q08 Sales |
2Q08 Market Share (%) |
| Nokia |
18,441.0 |
45.0 |
15,297.9 |
47.4 |
| Research In Motion |
7,678.9 |
18.7 |
5,594.2 |
17.3 |
| Apple |
5,434.7 |
13.3 |
892.5 |
2.8 |
| HTC |
2,471.0 |
6.0 |
1,330.8 |
4.1 |
| Fujitsu |
1,249.0 |
3.0 |
1,071.5 |
3.3 |
| Others |
5,688.2 |
13.9 |
8,085.8 |
25.1 |
|
Total |
40,962.8 |
100.0 |
32,272.7 |
100.0 |
Note: For HTC, Gartner counts only the company’s own-branded devices, including the G1.
Note: Totals may not add to 100.0 percent due to rounding.
Source: Gartner (August 2009)
In the smartphone OS market, Symbian held 51% share, down from 57% a year ago, while RIM and Apple grew their shares year-on-year. Android’s share was just under 2% of the market and more Android-based devices will come to market in the fourth quarter of 2009, intensifying competition in the smartphone OS market, particularly for Symbian and Windows Mobile. Microsoft’s share continued to drop year-on-year to account for 9% of the market in the second quarter of 2009.
