Worldwide shipments of cell phones in the second quarter increased 4.7 percent compared to the first, according to a report from iSuppli.
The growth marked the first successive increase for the market since the third quarter of 2008. Global shipments reached 265 million units in the second quarter, up from 253 million in the first.
“The moderate increase indicates the worldwide mobile handset market is bottoming out and now is returning to growth,” said Tina Teng, senior analyst, wireless communications for iSuppli.
“Much of the growth was generated by two emerging regions: the Middle East and Latin America. Furthermore, several aggressive promotional campaigns boosted sales in North America, with regional shipments rising by 8 percent during the period.”
The increase in shipments is positive news for the handset industry that has experienced nine months of decline. Shipments dipped 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2008, by 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and by 16.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009. By the first quarter of 2009, shipments had fallen by 58 million units compared to before the downturn in the second quarter of 2008.
Shipments are set to rise by 6 percent to 280 million in the third quarter and by 8.3 percent to 304 million in the fourth. Even with the quarter-to-quarter increases, annual shipments are still expected to be down 9.9 percent in 2009, with the total for the year amounting to 1.1 billion units, down from 1.23 billion in 2008.
The best performance in the second quarter was posted by South Korea’s LG Electronics. LG’s mobile shipments increased to 29 million units in the second quarter, up 31 percent form 22 million units in the first quarter. Company market share rose by 2.3 points to 11.2 percent.
“LG strong performance in the second quarter was due to its success in emerging regions, including the Middle East and Africa,” Teng said. “The company also managed to orient its product mix to more profitable handsets including new touch-screen devices.”
