Nokia Dwarfs Rivals In Mobile Phone Shipments

El Segundo (CA) - Nokia has expanded its already comfortable lead in the cellphone market in 2007 and just barely missed to hit a 40% market share in the fourth quarter, iSuppli reports.

Despite ongoing rumors of market saturation in key geographies of the world, the cellphone market is still booming. 1.15 billion devices were sold in 2007, according to iSuppli - and it is market leader Nokia that is taking advantage of most of this growing market.

The Finnish manufactured is estimated to have sold 437,000 phones during 2007, giving the company a 38.0% market share. Samsung follows as a distant second with 161,100 phones sold and a market share of 14.0%. Motorola is third with 159,000 units (13.8%), followed by Sony Ericsson (103,400; 9.0%) and LG (80,400; 7.0%).

In the fourth quarter of last year alone, Nokia sold 133,500 phones, capturing 39.5% of the market, iSuppli said. Both Samsung and Motorola lost share to Nokia in Q4, coming in at 13.7% and 12.1% share respectively. Nokia’s 39.5% share almost equals the combined 41.9% share of Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG.

While Nokia appears to be invincible at this time, the mobile-phone goliath still faces some challenges, iSuppli said. "Nokia has acknowledged its relatively weak position in CDMA technology - and the fact it doesn’t dominate the North American market," said iSuppli analyst Tina Teng. "However, the company is planning on introducing new appealing models for the U.S. market and is engaging in a more active marketing campaign in North America in 2008, which was kicked off by the ubiquitous product placement in the movie Cloverfield.