ZTE ousts Motorola from handset top five
Chinese firm chasing Sony Ericsson now, but needs more smartphones
Published: 12 April, 2010
READ MORE: Metrics | ZTE | Handset
The handset industry went into shock when Motorola began its recent decline and sank below third place in the world rankings. Now it is out of the top five, ousted during the fourth quarter of 2009 at least by ZTE.
The Chinese firm, which has set aggressive goals to increase its handset share and move up the food chain into smartphones, shipped 13.4m units during Q409, beating Motorola's 12m tally. This was despite the launch of the US company's new range of Android phones, including the Cliq/Dext and Droid. For the year as a whole, ZTE shipped over 40m phones and 20m data cards, according to research by iSuppli, a 33% jump on the year-ago period.
The fourth quarter was particularly important as a proving point for ZTE, because it was the period in which all the major suppliers shipped new designs at high and low ends. Despite that - and the firm's heavy focus on its home market, where the seasonal high comes around Chinese new year in the first quarter, rather than the Thanksgiving/Christmas period - ZTE still pushed Motorola aside to account for 4% of the total world market by units. It was biting at the heels of Sony Ericsson too, which took 4.4%, said iSuppli.
Both Motorola and Sony Ericsson will hope for strong performance in Q110 as their revamped smartphone ranges achieve mass distribution, but the latter is likely to come under increasing pressure from ZTE on the units front because it is not a big force in low end handsets. The low end, and China, remain important to Motorola, though, and so it will be vital for the US vendor to demonstrate that it can gain ground back against a Chinese rival with which it will go head-to-head in many markets. It will hope to rely on its resurgence in smartphones - ZTE has launched Android phones and promises more attention to the high end, but the bulk of its sales are still on the low cost side.
With Motorola, ZTE and Sony Ericsson fighting it out around the 4% mark, there is a growing gulf between them and the big three. In Q409, Nokia had 38% share, Samsung 21% and LG - which two years ago was still neck-and-neck with Sony Ericsson around 5% - got into double figures with 10%.
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