Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 286.1 million units in the second quarter of 2009--a 6.1 
percent year-over-year decrease--according to research firm Gartner. Smartphone sales surpassed 40 million units, a 27 percent increase over the same period a year ago, representing the fastest-growing segment of the mobile device market. While Nokia retained its overall lead with overall sales of 105 million devices, its portfolio remained heavily skewed toward low-end handsets, with the N97 smartphone selling just 500,000 units since its June retail debut--by comparison, Apple's iPhone 3G S sold a million units in its first weekend of release. Samsung followed in second with Q2 sales of 55 million units, followed by LG with 30.5 million units--according to Gartner, Samsung's touchscreen devices, qwerty phones and smartphones drove sales in mature markets, and the firm expects it will continue to narrow the gap with Nokia during the remainder of the year.
Nokia sold 18 million smartphones during the second quarter, capturing a 45 percent market share--Research In Motion followed with sales of 7.7 million units (19 percent market share), trailed by Apple with Q2 sales of 5.4 million (13 percent market share, up from just 2.8 percent a year earlier). Symbian claimed 51 percent of the smartphone operating system market, down from 57 percent a year ago--Gartner notes that Symbian and Windows Mobile will face intensifying competition from the Android OS in the months ahead, with a number of Android smartphones expected to reach stores in the fourth quarter.
For more on Gartner's Q2 report:
- read this release
- check out this slideshow
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