Research company Gartner says worldwide mobile phone sales in the second quarter of 2009 fell to 286.1 million units. That’s a year-on-year drop of 6.1%. However, 40 million of those units were smartphones, which is a 27% increase from the same period in 2008.
The company says touchscreen and QWERTY-equipped devices have driven replacement sales, although a decline in the average selling price has affected the manufacturers of lower-priced devices. When its comes to market share, Nokia and Samsung remain in first and second place respectively, although Nokia's share has slipped slightly and Samsung's has increased. LG is in third place, Motorola in fourth and Sony Ericsson in fifth. Nokia is also the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer, followed by Research in Motion. [Press release]