Mobile Device Sales Hit by Economy, Globally

As much as people love their mobile devices, economic stringency is having an effect.But some would say tougher service provider policies, such as ending device subsidies or making upgrades at affordable prices more difficult, also are having an effect,  


Oddly enough, some service providers have concluded that they do better, financially, by slowing the rate of smart phone adoptions. Others have concluded they simply need to shift demand to smart phone brands that provide more favorable operator economics. 


The global figures also suggest that current demand now is driven by smart phones, rather than feature phones that traditionally have represented the sales volume. 


Global mobile phone shipments grew a modest one percent annually to reach 362 million units in the second quarter of 2012, Strategy Analytics reports. 

Samsung was the top performer, shipping 93.0 million handsets worldwide and capturing a record 26 percent marketshare to solidify its first-place lead.

Nokia’s global handset shipments continued to decline, at a negative five percent annually, reaching 83.7 million units in Q2 2012. 

Apple shipped 26 million handsets worldwide in the second quarter of  2012. 


Samsung was the star performer during the quarter, capturing a record 26 percent marketshare. 

Other findings from the research include:

• ZTE captured 5 percent of global handset shipments as shipments slipped minus 16 percent annually, partly because of weakened demand in major markets of Western Europe and China;
• LG’s shipments nearly halved year-over-year to 13.1 million units, as its feature phone volumes continued to slip. However, its global smartphone shipments encouragingly improved on a sequential basis.

Global Handset Vendor Shipments and Market Share in Q2 2012

Global Handset Shipments (Millions of Units)	Q2 ’11	Q2 '12
Samsung	74.0	93.0
Nokia	88.5	83.7
Apple	20.3	26.0
ZTE	19.6	16.5
LG	24.8	13.1
Others	130.8	129.7
Total	358.0	362.0
Global Handset Vendor Marketshare %	Q2 ’11	Q2 '12
Samsung	20.7%	25.7%
Nokia	24.7%	23.1%
Apple	5.7%	7.2%
ZTE	5.5%	4.6%
LG	6.9%	3.6%
Others	36.5%	35.8%
Total	100.0%	100.0%
Global Handset Shipments Growth Year-over-Year %	11.9%	1.1%