The latest figures from Gartner reveal that worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 269.1 million units in the first quarter of 2009, a 9.4 percent decline over the year-earlier period and the largest quarter-on-quarter contraction since Gartner began monitoring the market on a quarterly basis in 2001. However, the gloom in the sector was offset by encouraging smartphone sales, which surpassed 36.4 million units, a 12.7 percent increase from the same period last year. Nokia continued to lead the overall market, but its share dropped to 36.2 percent from 39.1 percent in the year-earlier period. However, Motorola showed signs of improvement, overtaking Sony Ericsson to regain the fourth place it lost in the previous quarter. Second-placed Samsung registered the strongest quarter, lifting its market share to 19.1 percent on sales of 51.4 million units. 

Gartner noted that the channel intensified its efforts in the quarter to reduce the levels of stock it holds to minimise the risks associated with weak consumer confidence. This meant that sales into the channel were just short of 244 million units, while sales to users were just over 269 million units – a difference of 25 million units, compared with 17 million units in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, smartphone sales represented 13.5 percent of all mobile device sales compared to 11 percent in the year earlier period, driven mainly by increased sales at Research In Motion and Apple. Nokia’s smartphone share dipped slightly as a consequence (from 45.1 percent to 41.2 percent) but the Finnish vendor still recorded a rise in smartphone shipments. “Much of the smartphone growth during the first quarter of 2009 was driven by touchscreen products, both in mid-tier and high-end devices,” said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.