Smartphone shipments dipped in the first quarter compared with the previous quarter, a type of decline that hasn’t happened for a couple of years, according to analysts iSuppli.
Phone makers shipped 97.2 million phones in the first quarter, down 1.5% from the 98.7 million shipped in the fourth quarter.
Nokia and Motorola drove the shipment declines. Nokia shipments were down 14.5% sequentially, and Motorola shipments were down 16.3%. Nokia’s recently announced tie-up with Microsoft drove down its shipments, according to iSuppli analyst Tina Teng. “With the announcement of the deal, Nokia eliminated the incentive for consumers to buy its existing smartphone products, which are based on its Symbian and MeeGo operating systems,” said Teng. “Meanwhile, the Microsoft deal is unlikely to yield any products for nearly one year.”
“Troubles at Motorola, as well as slowing growth at Samsung and HTC, stem from the iPhone’s availability on Verizon’s network,” Teng said.
Despite the declines at Motorola and Nokia, Teng said the reduced overall shipments are the result of inventory control efforts rather than weakening consumer demand. ISuppli continues to expect 60 percent growth in worldwide smartphone shipments for the full year 2011.
Apple stood out for its growth in a market that declined overall. Its 14.9% growth put it just 5.7% behind Nokia, compared with 12.2% in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Research In Motion’s shipments were up 4.2% in the first quarter compared with the fourth. But it still lost ground to Apple. In the first quarter, RIM was 4% behind Apple in terms of shipments, compared with 2.1% in the fourth quarter.
IDG News Service
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