Asia Pacific handset shipments to witness record high 2011 figure

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Asia Pacific Handset Shipments, Vendor Market Share, Strategies and Key Trends Q3'2011" report to its offering.

The Asia Pacific region witnessed 172.56 million units which was a massive 24.91 percent increase over the same period in 2010 (138.15 million units), reveals new research from Signals and Systems Telecom. As a result, the full year 2011 is expected to be a record one.

By contrast the Q3 2011 handset shipments fell in North America by 6.63 percent over the same period of 2010 and by 1.51 percent in Central and Eastern Europe but these declines were more than compensated for by the dramatic rises of in Asia Pacific as well as in Latin and Central America (23.39 percent) and in the Middle East and Africa (45.58 percent) resulting in overall Q3 shipments worldwide that grew in Q3 2011 by 14.86 percent over Q3 2010.

Within Asia Pacific, Q3 2011 has witnessed great changes with vendors with several making announcements of new products, new operating systems and new functionality in a drive to generate sales ahead of Q4 demand. There are now active battles being fought by all vendors to capture, maintain or win back market share but these are unlikely to immediately threaten the Nokia and Samsung lead positions although Nokia may continue to see a declining market share. In terms of the key players and market leaders, Nokia has achieved a Q3 2011 market share of 28.27 percent of all shipments to Asia Pacific and while it remains in poll position, this share is down on all previous Q3 volumes in this marketplace as it is in battle with so many aggressive competitors.

By contrast, Samsung in second place with a Q3 share of 17.09 is 33 percent up on the same time last year and is thus gradually increasing its share and slowly eroding Nokia's lead. ZTE has come from nowhere in 2009 to third position in Q3 2011 with shipments of 9.15 million units and a 5.33 percent share in Asia Pacific that is set to further challenge both market leaders.

Similarly, Huawei is fighting aggressively and has captured a 4.33 percent Q3 2011 share and is also set to make its mark hereafter. Apple continues to make good inroads with its iPhone series and while its Q3 share of 3.16 percent is down on both previous 2011 quarters, it is double that of the same period last year.

Like Nokia, Sony Ericsson is losing out to the competition with a declining market share, although its Q3 performance has been a substantial improvement over recent times reaching a 2.46 percent share with 4.22 million units; 50 percent on the same time last year.