Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users fell 0.9 percent to 1.211 billion units in 2009, according to new Gartner figures – despite a return to growth in the fourth quarter. Three of the top five mobile phone vendors experienced a decline in sales in 2009 (see chart), while the top five vendors saw their combined share drop from 79.7 percent in 2008 to 75.3 percent in 2009 as they lost ground to high-end competitors such as Apple. This trend reflected the rise in smartphone sales, which reached 172.4 million units in 2009, a 23.8 percent increase from 2008. “In 2009, smartphone-focused vendors like Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) successfully captured market share from other larger device producers, controlling 14.4 and 19.9 per cent of the worldwide smartphone market, respectively,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner.

Worldwide Mobile Terminal Sales to End Users in 2009 (Thousands of Units)
(includes iDEN shipments, but excludes ODM to OEM shipments)
Source: Gartner (February 2010)

In the fourth quarter of 2009, the market registered a single-digit growth as mobile phone sales to end users surpassed 340 million units, an 8.3 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2008. “The mobile devices market finished on a very positive note, driven by growth in smartphones and low-end devices,” said Milanesi.