Global sales of mobile phone handsets jumped 18% in the first quarter of the year from the same time last year on robust replacement demand, according to a new survey.
Some 112.7 million handsets were sold in the quarter, with Finland's Nokia leading the field with a 35% global market share on 39.5 million handset sales, according to Gartner Japan, a unit of US technology information firm Gartner Group.
Nokia sold 32.6 million handsets the same time last year.
The replacement demand is expected to grow further in 2003 as manufacturers are scheduled to launch camera phones with a variety of functions in mature markets, such as Europe, Gartner said. 'In all regions, sales are increasing so much that, through 2003, we expect to see double digit growth from the previous year,' the company said.
Nokia was followed by US-based Motorola, which sold 16.6 million handsets, equivalent to a 14.7% market share, compared with 16.8 million units a year ago. South Korea's Samsung Electronics took the third largest market share with 10.5% or 11.9 million handsets, up from 8.9 million units sold a year ago.
German technology firm Siemens sold 8.6 million handsets to keep a 7.6% share of the market, up from 8.1 million units sold a year ago. Sony Ericsson, joint venture of Japanese Sony and Swedish Ericsson, sold 5.4 million handsets or 4.8% of the global share, down from 6 million units.
Despite the upbeat forecast for the growth of the mobile phone market, increasing inventory in China and the economic impact of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Asia were posing concerns for future sales, Gartner added.
