The worldwide mobile phone market fell 10.8% in Q2, with just 269.6 million handsets shipping during the quarter, according to IDC.
And the global market is on pace to decline 13% for 2009, IDC said. The only segment of the market ahead of forecasts is the smartphone sector, senior research analyst Ryan Reith said.
“Among the big handset vendors, Nokia, Samsung, Research In Motion, and Apple, all beat expectations for smartphones within the second quarter,” he said, adding that smartphone vendors were now engaged in a price war.
But the quarter's results were an improvement on the 17.2% decline seen in Q1, he added.
Another analyst firm iSuppli, estimated that the market grew 4.7% over Q1 – the first sequential increase since Q3 2008.
Demand for consumer products has remained relatively strong in Asia, largely due to aggressive national fiscal policies, IDC said. As several Asian economies showed signs of recovery, the region's handset industry has followed suit, with shipments once again topping 100 million.
Nokia shipped 103.2 million handsets - around the same as the next three biggest handset vendors combined, the analysts said. But shipments were down 15% from a year ago, when sales were equal to those of its next four rivals.
IDC estimates that Nokia's market share is 38.3%, while iSuppli places it at 38.9%.
Samsung and LG experienced the most growth, with Samsung increasing its market share to between 19.4% and 19.7% and LG increasing its to between 11.1% and 11.2%, the analyst firms said.
Sony Ericsson's market share slumped 34.4% year-on-year, while Motorola's declined 47%, IDC said. The analysts have Motorola's share at 5.5-5.6%, and Sony Ericsson's at 5.1-5.2%.