Samsung leads mobile phone shipments

Total shipments of mobile phones grew by just 2%
in 2012

Samsung accounted for one in four of all mobile phones shipped worldwide last year, as its shipments rose nearly 20% to 396.5 million, a report says.

Apple's phone shipments grew by 46% to a record 135.8 million mobile phones worldwide in 2012.

But Nokia's global phone shipments fell by 20% from 417.1 million units in 2011 to 335.6 million.

Overall, total shipments grew by 2% annually to reach 1.6 billion units in 2012, according to Strategy Analytics.

Neil Shah, senior analyst at the research firm, said: "Ongoing macroeconomic challenges in mature markets like North America and Western Europe, tighter operator upgrade policies, and shifting consumer tastes" were among the reasons for the modest global growth figure.

He added: "Fuelled by robust demand for its popular Galaxy models, Samsung was the star performer, shipping a record 396.5 million mobile phones worldwide and capturing 25% market share to solidify its first-place lead.

"However, Samsung's total volumes for the year fell just short of the 400-million threshold."

Global mobile handset shipments (2012)
Company	Units (millions)	Market share
SOURCE: STRATEGY ANALYTICS
Samsung	396.5	25.2%
Nokia	335.6	21.3%
Apple	135.8	8.6%
ZTE	71.7	4.6%
Other	635.4	40.3%

The research comes as Samsung reported a 76% jump in profits for the last three months of 2012, helped by sales of its Galaxy smartphones.

Net income rose to a record 7.04tn won ($6.6bn; £4.2bn), up from 4.01tn won in the same period a year earlier, beating analysts' expectations.

The Korean firm said its mobile profits more than doubled over the same period.

Last year, Samsung became the world's biggest smartphone maker, overtaking Apple, its main rival in the sector.

This week Apple also reported quarterly results, showing flat profits, unchanged from a year earlier at $13.1bn, and record quarterly revenue of $55bn.

But it was not enough to overcome disappointment over sales of the company's new iPhone 5, as analysts said the firm was in danger of becoming a victim of its own success.

The firm said late on Wednesday it had sold more iPhones (47.8 million) and iPads (22.9 million) in the final three months of last year than in any previous quarter, but investors had expected more.

Meanwhile Nokia, the struggling Finnish mobile phone maker which once dominated the global mobile market, said on Thursday that it had swung back into profit in the last three months of 2012.

But Nokia said the trading outlook was tough and that no dividend would be paid, the first time in 20 years that shareholders have missed out.

Pre-tax profit for the quarter was 375m euros (£316m), against a 974m-euro loss last year. Nokia said it sold 15.9 million smartphones in the quarter, down from 19.6 million a year earlier.

Source bbc.co.uk