The global mobile phone market is making an impressive comeback as the worldwide economy begins to emerge from the recession that hit in the last couple of years. IDC reports that a total of 294.9 million mobile phones were shipped, a 21.7 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago. Demand for smartphones played a significant role in the recovery and helped propel RIM into the top 5 vendor rankings for the first time.
The top five vendors where Nokia (107.8 million devices shipped and a 36.6 percent market share), Samsung (64.3 million devices shipped and a 21.8 percent market share), LG Electronics (27.1 million devices shipped and a 9.2 percent market share), Research In Motion (10.6 million devices shipped and a 3.6 percent market share), and Sony Ericsson (10.5 million devices shipped and a 3.6 percent market share).
The news was not kind to everyone. Sony Ericsson was the only top five vendor to see a year-over-year shipment drop. And Motorola, once the second largest phone manufacturer, fell behind Apple which sold some 8.75 million iPhones.