Worldwide mobile phone sales declined marginally to 1.21 billion units in 2009 against last year, according to IT research firm Gartner.
Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled 1.21 billion units in 2009, a 0.9 per cent decline from 2008, Gartner said in a statement.
"The mobile devices market finished on a very positive note, driven by growth in smartphones and low-end devices," Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi said.
However, in the fourth quarter of 2009, mobile phone sales crossed 340 million units, registering growth of 8.3 per cent against the same period in 2008.
The smartphone category also witnessed strong growth in the year.
"In 2009, smartphone sales reached 172.4 million units, a 23.8 per cent increase from 2008. In 2009, smartphone-focused vendors like Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) successfully captured market share from other larger device producers, controlling 14.4 and 19.9 per cent of the worldwide smartphone market, respectively," Milanesi said.
Smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2009 totalled 53.8 million units, up 41.1 per cent from the same period in 2008.
In 2009, Nokia's total annual mobile phone sales to end users reached 441 million units, a 2.2 per cent drop in marketshare from 2008.
