Stockholm - Nokia, the world's biggest cellphone maker, lost market share for the first quarter in four to Motorola and Samsung Electronics, according to researcher Gartner.
Nokia's global share fell to 30.4 percent in the first quarter from 33 percent in the previous three-month period, Gartner said yesterday. Motorola's share rose to 16.8 percent from 16.3 percent in the fourth quarter, and from 16.3 percent a year earlier.
Cellphone sales rose 17 percent in the first quarter, which was a record first-quarter growth for the industry, Gartner said.
Competition in the industry has intensified, leading to lower prices. Nokia has added features to expensive handsets and cut prices on cheaper phones after its market share fell to a five-year low at the beginning of last year.
Gartner raised its forecast for global cellphone sales this year to 750 million units from an earlier forecast of 720 million units. That beats the 674 million units sold last year and the 520 million phones sold in 2003.
"Volumes are growing and margins are shrinking," said Gartner analyst Ben Wood. "This is because consumers in emerging markets want cheap handsets, and competition in more developed markets keeps prices low."
Unit sales at Nokia rose 24 percent to 54.9 million from a year earlier, and fell 15 percent from the fourth quarter. Motorola sold 30.3 million phones, up from 25.1 million units a year earlier.
"Nokia always drops in market share from the fourth to the first quarter," said Wood. " in North America, which is a market it needs to focus on. The sale of low-value phones has affected the brand, which is now being associated with cheap phones."
Nokia, which has a long-term target of a 40 percent market share, has reduced phone prices and has said it plans to introduce 40 new models this year to recoup market share. Ten of the new phones will be third-generation handsets, which allow users to hold video calls.
Samsung's market share rose to 13.3 percent from 12.2 percent in the previous quarter and was up from a market share of 12.6 percent a year earlier.
Units Q1'05 Share Q1'05 Units Q1'04 Share Q1'04
Millions % Millions %
Nokia 54.9 30.4 44.3 28.8
Motorola 30.3 16.8 25.1 16.3
Samsung 24.1 13.3 19.4 12.6
LG 11.1 6.2 8.2 5.3
Siemens 9.9 5.5 12.3 8
Sony Ericsson 9.9 5.5 8.6 5.6
Others 40.3 22.3 35.9 23.4
Total 180.6 100 153.7 100