Mobile Sales Dip As Samsung Leapfrogs Nokia

Mobile sales fell two percent in the first quarter of 2012, marking the first time such a drop has been seen in the industry since the second quarter of 2009.

Smartphone sales to consumers, however, jumped 42 percent, as Samsung overtook Nokia to become the number one overall mobile player. Apple was in third, followed by Chinese firm ZTE, which overtook LG for fourth.

The Android platform made solid gains, achieving a 56.1 percent market share, up from 36.4 percent in the first quarter of 2011. Apple made plenty of ground too, gaining 22.9 percent of the smartphone market, based on operating systems.

Nokia revival?

Nokia did not have such a positive quarter, as Symbian usage slumped from 27.7 percent market share to 8.6 percent, whilst Windows Phone saw a decline from 2.6 percent to 1.9 percent.

Yet Anshul Gupta, Gartner analyst, told TechWeekEurope the group felt positive about Nokia’s future, predicting better figures this time next year.

“The drop is a given considering the Windows phone ecosystem is still evolving and growing, though building up fast. The smartphone market is driven by mass market smartphone devices now selling in emerging countries. Android has really reached that mass market price level and enjoying the growth due to smartphone market expansion in emerging countries,” he said.

“Windows Phone has not yet reached those mass market price levels to compete in the emerging countries and competition at the high end is very tough with Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy devices in a mature market, making it even more challenging for Nokia’s Lumia devices. We expect Nokia to build a strong foundation in 2012 widening Lumia device portfolio and start gaining share from 2013.”

Troubled BlackBerry maker RIM did not have a positive result either. In OS market share, it saw its market share almost cut in half, from 13 percent to 6.9 percent.

As for the overall mobile market, Gartner said it was going to cut its forecast of sales for the year. “The lower results in the first quarter of 2012 have led us to be cautious about sales for the remainder of the year,” said Annette Zimmermann, principal research analyst at Gartner.

“The launch of the Apple iPhone 5 will help drive a stronger second half in Western Europe and North America. However, as we are starting to update our market forecast we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable.”

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