El Segundo, CA —Motorola Inc. was the star of the mobile-phone business once again in the second quarter, with its shipments increasing by an industry-leading 5.8 million units during the period, according to iSuppli Corp. The company is closing its gap with market-leader Nokia, but remained in second place in terms of unit shipments.
Motorola’s mobile-phone shipments amounted to 51.9 million units in Q2, up 12.6% sequentially from 46.1 million. Company market share rose to 23%, from 21% in Q1.
The company benefited from its thin form-factor phones, including its successful RAZR. Tina Teng, analyst, wireless communications, for iSuppli, notes, “About 40% of Motorola’s second-quarter unit shipments were of its trademark thin form-factor phones, and 32.8% were RAZRs. Motorola’s market-share gains were most notable in China, North America and India.”
Nokia achieved 4.4% sequential growth in mobile-phone shipments, a slightly better performance than the overall market. The Finnish firm gained 1 point of share to 35%. The company shipped 78.4 million units this quarter, compared to 75.1 million in Q1.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. suffered a setback in the second quarter due to disappointing overseas sales. The company’s biggest decline in shipments came from Europe.
Company phone shipments declined to 26.3 million units, down 9.3% from 29 million in the first quarter. Its market share declined by 1 point to 12%. However, Samsung’s mobile-phone Average Selling Prices improved by 1.5% as the company avoided low-end products for emerging regions.
Sony Ericsson posted the largest percentage increase in shipments among the top-five players, with its units rising to 15.8 million, up 18.8% from 13.3 million in Q1. The company has been making gains with its Walkman line of mobile phones, which accounted for 25% of its second quarter unit shipments. The company’s share rose to 7%, surpassing LG Electronics to take fourth place in the market.
LG Electronics slid to fifth place on a 1.9% decline in unit shipments due to competition in the U.S. market with rival Motorola. The company’s most-talked-about mobile phone, Chocolate, is expected to be available in the U.S. market in the fourth quarter to help boost the company’s results.