The global sales of mobile phones surged 35 per cent to 417 million units in September quarter, fuelled by a strong market for smart phones, according to research group Gartner.
The world's top three mobile phone makers -- Nokia, Samsung and LG -- maintained their positions, even as they saw a decline in respective market shares in the third quarter.
"This is the third consecutive double-digit increase in sales year-on-year, indicating that consumer demand is healthy," Gartner's Vice President (Research) Carolina Milanesi said.
Mobile sales stood at 113 million units in 2009 September quarter. Smart phone sales nearly doubled to 80,532 units in the 2010 third quarter as compared to the year-ago period.
Smart phones accounted for 19.3 per cent of the overall sales. The rise in mobile phone sales was also due to increased sales of white-box products in emerging regions, including India. White-box products are generally defined as offerings that are cheaper than the standard ones.
"In the third quarter, white-box manufacturers continued to expand their reach outside China into markets such as India, Russia, Africa and Latin America," Milanesi said.
Gartner noted that Apple surpassed Research In Motion (RIM) to become the fourth largest seller of mobile phones. In the September quarter, Apple sold 13 million units as compared to RIM's sales of nearly 12 million units.
In the 2010 September quarter, Nokia garnered a market share of 28.2 per cent with sales of 117 million units, followed by Samsung which had a share of 17.2 per cent and sold 71 million handsets.
At the third spot was LG with a market share of 6.6 per cent and sales of 27 million units. However, all the three players saw a significant fall in their respective market shares.
Nokia had a share of 36.7 per cent, Samsung (19.6 per cent) and LG (10.3 per cent) in 2009 September quarter.
For the full year, Gartner projects overall sale of devices to jump 30 per cent as compared to 2009, bolstered by white-box manufacturers.
Pointing out that the impact of media tablets (such as Apple iPad) on mobile device sales would be tested in 2011, Gartner said it anticipates sale of such devices to reach 54.8 million units next year.
