While shipments declined in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the previous quarter, the worldwide mobile phone market continued to grow when compared on a year-over-year basis. Vendors shipped almost 257 million handsets in the quarter. Even with these numbers, the mobile market is seeing slower growth than it did in past years as the market starts to reach saturation. IDC found that an increasing percentage of shipments is due to customers replacing devices rather than new subscribers.
The top five vendors were Nokia (91.1 million units), Motorola (45.4 million units but showing a 1.5 percent drop compared to the same quarter last year), Samsung (34.8 million units), Sony Ericsson (21.8 million units) and LG Electronics (15.8 million units). Sony Ericsson showed the largest year-on-year growth with a 63.9 percent jump in shipments.
IDC defines mobile phones as small, battery-powered, voice-centric devices utilize operator-provided cellular/PCS air interfaces for voice communication.