Mobile handset shipments are continuing to rise, in the first quarter up by 10% over this time last year, although actually down sequentially against the biggest fourth quarter.
IDC reports that it tracked 256.4 million units, which puts this on track to be a year substantially above 1 billion devices, which more or less everybody expects since that’s around the total shipments reported for 2006.
But there is something of a slowdown in the rate of increase, reckons IDC, with last year every quarter up by around 20% over the prior year, and it suggests that many markets are saturating and that a lot of shipments are replacement devices rather than new first time mobile owners.
‘The increase in worldwide phone shipments was driven, in part, by new subscribers in emerging markets and, in part, by replacement sales in mature markets,’ notes Ramon Llamas, research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends group. ‘Since basic voice connectivity and affordability are often the key components of demand in emerging markets, device vendors, appropriately, seek to supply low-cost handsets in these markets, which, in turn, has the unfortunate effect of dragging down device Average Selling Prices (ASPs).’
Samsung appears to have benefited most from Motorola’s misfortunes by recording a positive sequential growth in the first quarter, which is pretty good given that most other suppliers are down compared to the fourth quarter and suggests Samsung is once again winning market share.
Nokia shipped 91.1 million units in 1Q07, citing continued success in key regions. Shipments into the Middle East, Africa, and China were up from the holiday quarter while shipments in Asia/Pacific held steady. Nokia was able to maintain its device ASPs at €89 ($121.4) stemming the decline it witnessed in 2006. In the converged mobile device space, Nokia reported a record shipment of 11.8 million units, citing success from the N73, N70, and the newly launched E65.
Motorola shifted its focus towards recovery after shipped 45.4 million but making losses for the quarter. Samsung reached 34.8 million units with Sony Ericsson registering the largest year-on-year growth at 21.8 million devices, pulling further away from LG which was flat at 15.8 million devices.