More than 321 Million Handsets Shipped Globally in 2Q-2010; ABI Research Says Samsung Still Has Nokia in Its Sights Despite Stumble

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--2Q-2010 proved to be a very solid quarter for the mobile handset market with 321.2 million handsets shipped, of which WCDMA handsets made up 31%. Growth was 5.9% Quarter-on-Quarter and 19.4% Year-on-Year.

“It is remarkable that the smartphone is starting to appeal to a very wide market cross-section. The smartphone is about to go multi-generational and the popularity of the number one handset form-factor, the ‘candy-bar’, could be waning.”

“Mobile phone users seem to be shrugging off their economic woes and going handset shopping,” says ABI Research practice director Kevin Burden. “It is remarkable that the smartphone is starting to appeal to a very wide market cross-section. The smartphone is about to go multi-generational and the popularity of the number one handset form-factor, the ‘candy-bar’, could be waning.”

Nokia continued to shed market share, declining to 34.5% in 2Q-2010. Nokia has been doing some serious reorganization. R&D has been more closely aligned with business priorities. Nokia has been piling on resources to iron out the code needed to meet expectations for Symbian OS and MeeGo.

LG notched up an increase in share to 9.5%, but compatriot Samsung broke a seven-quarter winning streak of increasing QoQ market share. Samsung attributes this to the decline in the European economic outlook. Vice-President for Forecasting Jake Saunders comments, “Samsung is still gunning for Nokia’s pre-eminent spot, but we will have to see if Samsung’s recent smartphone launches, such as the Galaxy S, will help it resume its march on Nokia.”

It looks as if Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna media melee took the edge off 2Q-2010 shipments. Market share actually shrank slightly to 2.6%. Apple is still cranking up inventory, but sales should have “wowed more” at this stage of the iPhone 4’s product release cycle.

RIM, with a 3.5% share, has been able to build cachet around the strength of its messaging platform, combining strong design aesthetics with a decent set of entertainment-orientated features that are helping RIM to expand its appeal.

Motorola’s 2Q numbers were down on 1Q-2010, at 8.3 million (2.6%). Motorola has won critical acclaim for a number of its latest smartphones but has experienced challenges ramping up product awareness and access to markets.

For more about worldwide device markets, please visit ABI Research’s “Mobile Devices Market Share Tracker” (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1003402) and “Mobile Devices Market Forecast Analysis” (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1003877) which track the above data.

Both are part of the firm’s “Smartphones and Mobile Devices Research Service” (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Mobile_Devices_Research_Service).

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of emerging trends in global connectivity. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advise thousands of decision makers through 28 research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.