Gartner Says Mobile Phone Sales Rose 21 Percent in the Second Quarter of 2005
Nokia and Motorola Account for Nearly Half of Worldwide Sales in the Quarter
Egham,
U.K.,
August 25, 2005 —Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled
190.5 million units in the second quarter of 2005, a 21.6 percent growth from
the same period last year, according to Gartner, Inc. In the second quarter of
2005, the mobile phone market experienced the second strongest quarter on record
(in the fourth quarter of 2004 worldwide sales surpassed 195.3 million units).
"All the regions recorded growth this quarter apart from
Japan that saw a
small decline in demand compared to the second quarter in 2004," said Carolina
Milanesi, principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner, based in
Egham,
UK. "The sales
in the mature markets of
Western Europe
and North America were driven primarily by sales of phones as replacements for
older models and, to a lesser extent, by first-time buyers. In the emerging
markets growth was boosted by an uptake in new connections as consumers took
advantage of falling average selling prices of mobile phones."
Nokia and Motorola have strengthened their position in the marketplace, as the
two companies accounted for 49.8 percent of worldwide mobile phone sales in the
second quarter of 2005 (see Table 1). Nokia's market share grew 2.3 percentage
points in the second quarter of 2005 to reach 31.9 percent. "Nokia regained its
top position in Latin America and stepped up to the third position in North
America benefiting from the successful launch of its Virgin Mobile which helped
its lagging code division multiple access (CDMA) sales," said Hugues de la
Vergne, principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner, based in
Dallas, Texas.
Motorola was the second best-selling vendor in Western Europe, a significant
improvement compared to the same time last year when Motorola finished as the
No. 5 vendor in the market. In
North America,
Motorola was the market leader with its share reaching 33.5 percent, while it
was the No. 2 vendor in
Latin America with 31.9 percent of sales in the region.
Table 1
Worldwide
Mobile
Terminal Sales to End-Users in 2Q05 (Thousands of Units)
Company |
2Q05 Sales |
2Q05 Market Share (%) |
2Q04 Sales |
2Q04 Market Share (%) |
Nokia |
60,793.9 |
31.9 |
46,367.7 |
29.6 |
Motorola |
34,018.1 |
17.9 |
24,625.9 |
15.7 |
Samsung |
24,478.6 |
12.8 |
18,981.0 |
12.1 |
LG |
12,374.4 |
6.5 |
9,494.5 |
6.1 |
Sony Ericsson |
11,843.2 |
6.2 |
10,354.1 |
6.6 |
Siemens |
8,894.8 |
4.7 |
10,822.9 |
6.9 |
Others |
38,095.6 |
20.0 |
35,997.1 |
23.0 |
Total |
190,498.6 |
100.0 |
156,643.2 |
100.0 |
Note* This table includes integrated
digital enhanced network (iDEN) terminals. It excludes ODM to OEM shipments.
Source: Gartner Dataquest (August 2005)
In Western Europe, mobile phone sales reached 37.4 million units, a 9.9 percent
increase from the same time last year. While vendors did well in selling
replacement phones, Gartner analysts said the transition to third-generation
(3G) services was slow. "Users' lack of interest in 3G services, such as video
calling, meant that users preferred 2.5G GSM phones to 3G handsets," Ms.
Milanesi said.
Combined sales in
Eastern Europe,
the Middle East and Africa grew by 37 percent, as mobile phone sales rose to
33.6 million units. The markets in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey and Nigeria
attracted more subscribers and boosted the aggregate total.
Mobile phone sales in
North America
totaled nearly 35.5 million units in the second quarter of 2005, an increase of
9.4 percent from the second quarter of 2004. Gartner analysts said this was a
new record of unit sales for a second quarter in the region. Meanwhile, Latin
America had an impressive quarter with mobile phone sales of 25.6 million units,
an increase of 50 percent from the same period last year. Growth in this region
was fueled by strong sales in
Brazil
and Mexico.
In Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), sales reached approximately 48.3 million
units in the second quarter, up 27.5 percent from the second quarter of 2004.
"The healthy performance was mainly due to strong demand for handsets in
emerging markets such as China, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam," said Ann Liang,
principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner, based in Taiwan.
"Demand in these markets offset the somewhat sluggish performance of countries
such as South Korea, where replacement sales slowed."
After staging a slight recovery in the first quarter of 2005, mobile phone sales
in Japan
reached 10 million units in the second quarter of 2005, down from 10.6 million
units in the second quarter of 2004. "Features such as music players and fully
fledged Web browsers helped replacement sales, but it wasn't enough for the
market's overall performance to match last year's results," said Nahoko
Mitsuyama, principal analyst for mobile communications for Gartner, based in
Tokyo, Japan.
"The strength of the world's mobile phone market in the second quarter of 2005
reinforces Gartner's view that it will reach 780 million units by the end of the
year," Ms. Milanesi said.