The Koreans are coming

The Q3 global mobile phone market grew by 5.6 percent over the previous quarter, with Samsung and LG being pretty much the sole drivers of that growth, according to the latest IDC report.

The shipment total of 287.1 million units in Q3 was still 6 percent down on a year ago, but the sequential improvement is being viewed at a turning of the corner by the mobile phone market. Furthermore, the best performing region was Western Europe.

"The mobile phone market is showing the first signs of improvement since the onset of the economic crisis," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC.

"During the third quarter, we saw a number of channels promoting older devices at significantly lower prices. For many, this was enough to spur demand and push volumes higher. Now that we have moved into the fourth quarter, vendors are setting the stage for further gains by launching their flagship devices to meet pent-up demand."

Among the vendors, market leader Nokia had another tough quarter, which saw it lose almost a percentage point of market share. The Koreans Samsung and LG both did really well, with Samsung stronger at the higher end and LG shifting more to the mass market. Sony Ericsson and Motorola are both going through a period of transition and seem to have lost a lot of market share to the Koreans due to a relatively weak entry-level proposition.

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q3 2009 (Units in Millions)

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, October 29, 2009

Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

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