Nokia continues lead in global handset market

Even as worldwide smartphone sales touched 115 million units in the third quarter, a rise of 42 per cent compared to the year-ago period, the growth in sales dropped to seven per cent compared to the second quarter, says research firm Gartner.

Smartphone sales accounted for 26 per cent of all mobile phone sales, growing only marginally from 25 per cent in the previous quarter.

Sales of non-smartphone devices were driven by demand in emerging markets for low-cost devices from white-box manufacturers, as well as demand for dual-subscriber identity module (SIM) devices.

Despite a drop in market share, Gartner analysts claim Nokia remains the worldwide leader in mobile device sales, accounting for 23.9 per cent of global sales.

After a dismal second quarter, the company showed signs of improvement in the third quarter.

Dual-SIM phones and feature phones helped maintain Nokia's momentum in emerging markets.

"Heavy marketing from both Nokia and Microsoft to push the new Lumia devices should see more improvement in the fourth quarter. However, a true turnaround won't take place until the second half of 2012,"

said Gartner analysts.

"At a worldwide level, our forecast for the year-end remains broadly in line, since regions such as Asia-Pacific, West Asia and Africa make up for the weaker performance in the western European market," said Annette Zimmermann, principal analyst, Gartner.

Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner, said consumers held off upgrading in the third quarter because they were waiting for promotions on other new high-end models launched in the run-up to the holiday season in the fourth quarter.

According to Gartner, Samsung went past Finnish giant Nokia to become the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer worldwide, as sales to end users tripled year-on-year, touching 24 million.

Strong sales in western Europe and Asia helped Samsung push its Galaxy smartphones across markets.

Analysts expect more competition in the fourth quarter, not least because sales of the iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS are set to capture share from Android manufacturers.

Google's Android operating system accounted for 52.5 per cent of all smartphone sales to users in the third quarter, more than doubling its market share compared to the third quarter of 2010, according to Gartner.