Cell phone industry declares end of recession, says iSuppli Tweet

The cell phone industry is proclaiming the end of the recession for the segment following an outstanding final quarter of 2009 and a projected substantial growth for smartphones in 2010, according to iSuppli. A resilient performer in an otherwise moribund world economy during the past year, cell phones ended 2009 with shipments of 1.15 billion units. While that number is down from the overall 2008 figure of 1.2 billion handsets, shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009 represented the culmination of an increasing growth pattern throughout all of last year. Compared to third-quarter shipments of 290 million, about 335 million mobile handsets were shipped in the fourth quarter, up 15.5%.

"Given the recovery of the market in the final quarter of 2009, and with Europe, Latin America and the Middle East/Africa regions doing exceptionally well during the period, the recession can be said to be officially over for the cell phone industry," said Tina Teng, senior analyst for wireless systems at iSuppli. "The continued growth this year of total handsets - up a projected 11.3 percent to 1.3 billion units - further
bolsters such a view."

Among the various handset categories, smartphones - defined as handsets with a high-level operating system - are projected to expand 35.5% in 2010. Smartphone growth will be driven by a number of promising developments, including the introduction of entry-level smartphones, enthusiasm from vendors across the mobile phone and PC industries, the prevalence of 3G network deployments and the promotion of data-centric services in mature markets.

With handset shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009 amounting to approximately 257.6 million units, the Top-5 players accounted for a whopping 77% share of the total handset market. Nokia remained the leader of the handset market, shipping 126.9 million handsets during the period, giving it a 37.9% share of market. Runner-up Samsung Electronics, which has introduced its own smartphone operating system, held the number two spot with a 20.6% share.

The remainder of the Top-5 is rounded out by LG Electronics, in third place with a 10.1% share; Sony Ericsson in fourth, with a 4.4% share; and Chinese giant ZTE, whose impressive 77% growth from the earlier quarter vaulted it into fifth place, with a 4% share.

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