FRAMINGHAM, MA -- Worldwide shipments of cellphones rose 19.1% year-on-year to 203.8 million units, led by Nokia and Motorola, research firm IDC said.

New products, portfolio refreshes and new form factors contributed to growth. The top 5 vendors reported all-time-high shipment levels.


In a statement, Ramon Llamas, research analyst, IDC Mobile Devices, said, "Last year, quarterly mobile phone shipments didn't reach 200 million units until the end of the fourth quarter when vendors were keeping the channels' shelves stocked for the holiday rush. As vendors announced new products earlier this year and accelerated their time to market, we've already reached this milestone."

Western Europe continueed to lead other regions on cellphone launches. "The dominance of the handset subsidy model and 12-month upgrade cycles in Western Europe combined with the introduction of a number of highly publicized, multimedia-oriented high-end handsets to drive demand in a mature market that is witnessing saturation of subscriber growth," said Andrew Brown, program manager, European Mobile Devices, IDC.

Nokia remains the largest vendor, with 32% market share. Nokia shipped 66.6 million units worldwide during the quarter. Motorola was second, with an 18.6% and 38.7 million units shipped. Samsung was third, at 12.9% (26.8 million units), LG Electronics was fourth (15.5 million units) and Sony Ericsson fifth (13.8 million units).

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