SHANGHAI – Global mobile phone shipments were approximately 970 million units with a production value of about $79 billion in 2006. Nokia ranked first in sales volume, at 347.5 million units, according to the just-released China Mobile Phone Industry Chain Report, 2006-2007.
China is the world’s largest manufacturing base, making around 46.9% of the worlds’ mobile phones in 2006, says the report. Around 103 million mobile phones were sold in China's domestic market and 252.2 million were exported. Shenzhen, Tianjin, Beijing and Suzhou have become the important bases for manufacturing, and have formed a complete mobile phone industry supply chain, especially Shenzhen. Mobile phone output is getting higher in India, but poses no threat to China in the short term, claims the report. Per the report, the cellphone PCB market is controlled by Taiwan manufacturers, whose market share tops 50% and will be more than 60% by 2007. High-end HDI is still the mainstream, while rigid-flex PCBs are becoming more popular. Camera module configurations are slowly changing. The conventional cellphone camera has a resolution of 1.3 to 2 MP; 2 MP cameras are expected to be the norm this year. According to the report, mobile phone platform newcomers will face competitive pressure because of fewer shipments; the concentration degree is rather high in cellphones, and tier-one manufacturers and platform suppliers are working more closely. The market share of the top nine manufacturers reached 90.72%, and that of the top five manufacturers was 83.88%, says the report.