LG sells 100 million handsets in 2008, ranks 3rd globally

The end of 2008 saw a major shift in the global GSM market. The Korean manufacturer LG managed to go ahead of both Sony Ericsson and Motorola and secured a third position globally in terms of sold units.

The lot is still led by Nokia and Samsung, who are yet to announce their 2008 results in several days.

LG have managed to sell 100 million handsets which is just 0.1 million more than the previous number three - Motorola.

Sony Ericsson who also were ahead of this pack for a short while have dropped to a fifth position with 96.6 million units sold for the past year. Furthermore, the financial results published by Sony Ericsson last week have caused some serious doubt for the company future.

Motorola's future also seems quite uncertain as rumor has it that the crisis hasn't been overcome.

So in what has certainly been a tough year for all manufacturers LG and Samsung seem to be the ones to have most reasons to cheer. Samsung have steadily established their number two spot in the global market by shipping 200 million units in 2008, according to the LG estimates.

While the difference between the thrid, fourth and fifth place is not that big in terms of sales volume, Nokia have outdone all by a wide margin, selling 470 million units (again by estimates made by LG) throughout the year.

However the last two quarters of 2008 haven't been too merciful on Nokia profits too so it is not quite sure if the year should be counted as a successful one. We will see about that tomorrow when the Finnish manufacturer announces its financial results.

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