The market research group forecasts 1.24 billion units will be sold globally in 2008, up 10 percent from 1.12 billion during 2007.

Emerging regions, particularly Africa, will continue to drive shipments. Meanwhile, saturated western markets -- many of them likely to see weak GDP growth -- will remain sluggish in 2008.

Strategy Analytics suggests some suppliers had "mild component shortages" during the quarter, but expects these to be less pronounced by the middle of the first quarter of this year.

For last year, demand remained strong in emerging markets, particularly Africa. Nokia sold 134 million handsets for its record 40 percent share. Samsung held on to second position as 3G shipments surged. Motorola continued to suffer from a weak range of devices on offer, while Sony Ericssons growth fell to its lowest rate in almost 3 years.

In 2007, Nokia shipped 437.1 million phones, Samsung 161.2 million, Motorola 159 million, followed by Sony Ericsson at 103.4 million and LG Electronics 80.5 million. The 'others' category of 184.3 million units brings the total to 1.24 billion.

The one blot on the figures from Strategy Analytics is that average selling prices (ASP) for all suppliers declined on an annual basis. For Nokia tight cost-controls enabled it to achieve operating margins of 24 percent for handsets.

Samsung retained second slot for Q4 07 and shipped what was for the Korean group also a record of 46 million handsets. It grew three times faster than the industry average. WCDMA handset shipments surged to 7.3 million units, representing 16 percent of total volumes. This helped its operating margin to grow to 11 percent in Q4 2007, from 8 percent a year earlier.

The market researchers expressed some disappointment about Apple's performance, "which came in slightly below our expectations, shipping 2.3 million units for a 0.6 percent worldwide share. The European launch in France, Germany and U.K. was handled successfully, but demand from buyers was less frenzied than the US entry in June 2007. High retail prices for the iPhone have been one issue."

But the biggest loser in Q4 and for the year has been Motorola, whose shipments fell a 38 percent annually. Its 12 percent global share is at the lowest level since 2001.

"Without a more attractive lineup of handsets, the pain is likely to continue for Motorola into the second half of 2008", suggests Strategy Analytics.

Sony Ericsson continued to see slower growth in shipments. Its annual growth rate plunged from 64 percent to 18 percent in just nine months." Improved 3G handsets and cooler sub-branding from Samsung, LG and Nokia are starting to have a negative impact on Sony Ericsson, as it appears to have maximized the growth potential in its Walkman products."

LG Electronics sold 23.7 million mobiles in Q4 2007, up 39 percent on the same quarter last time. This was its fastest growth rate for almost two years.

By: DocMemory
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