Nokia tops 2006 mobile phone market

By Colleen Taylor -- Electronic News, 2/1/2007

Nokia Corp. expanded its leadership position in the mobile handset market in 2006, shipping more units than its next two closest competitors combined, according to market research firm iSuppli Corp.

2006 was also a banner year for Sony Ericsson, which in Q4 posted the largest quarter-over-quarter growth of all mobile-phone makers, with shipments rising 61.5 percent to 26 million units, up from 16.1 million units during the same period in 2005, iSuppli noted. Sony Ericsson also achieved more than 15 percent growth in Q2, Q3, and Q4 of 2006. The company's shipments increased to 74.8 million units in 2006, up 46.4 percent from 51.1 million units in 2005.

Sony Ericsson's success still did not best that of Nokia, which holds the number one spot on handset OEM rankings by a wide margin, with unit shipments of 348 million in 2006. This compares to combined shipments of 335.3 million units for Nokia's two closest competitors, Motorola and Samsung. The company also shipped 106 million units in Q4, up from 83.7 million during the same period a year earlier.

According to iSuppli, Nokia's highest growth and volume is coming from Europe, which accounted for nearly 32 percent of Nokia's shipments in Q4.

Motorola Inc. was no slouch over the year, either. Despite missing its own Q4 target, Motorola still managed to ship 65.7 million units in Q4, up 22.3 percent from 44.7 million units in Q4 2005. And for the full-year 2006, Motorola's shipments grew 48.6 percent to 217.4 million units, up from 146 million units in 2005.

However, all 2006's news was not good for OEMs. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics both suffered on the home front, with sales declines in their native Asia. These issues caused LG to drop one rank to fifth place in 2006, down from fourth in 2005. LG also posted a flat Q4, with shipments of 17 million units, up just barely from the 16.2 million units the company shipped in the fourth quarter of 2005.