LG overtakes Motorola for third place in global handset shipments

Half a year ago, Motorola was still clinging tight to the number three spot in terms of worldwide handset shipments, but boy -- what a difference six months makes. According to numbers compiled by DigiTimes, LG Electronics managed to ship just over 100 million mobile phones in 2008, while Moto checked in with "just" 99.9 million shipped. That makes LG the third largest handset maker in terms of shipments, barely beating out Moto and Sony Ericsson who placed fourth and fifth, respectively. As expected, Nokia and Samsung are still holding down the top two spots, but it's the continued slippage of Motorola that's most significant here. You know what they say about being on rock bottom, right? We bet Motorola's wondering if that mantra applies here.

[Via phonescoop]

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:02PM]

Being 4th in the world isn't rock bottom. Motorola still has a long way to go before they reach it ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:58PM]

WTC is not built in ONE day. However.......

[suicyclecom Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:05PM]

It's not that they're 4th that's the problem. It's that they're trending toward 5th and not 3rd. The once mighty Moto has not yet fallen, but it is falling.

[magallanes Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:21PM]

Apple sold less than 9 million and they are self calling victorious and even as #1. So, in this perspective, 99.9 million is a lot of cellphones.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 20th 2009 3:33PM]

If these statistics didn't omit information they might be credible... they not counting how many phones were shipped directly to the dump, that would put Moto squarely in 1st place.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 20th 2009 7:44PM]

But they are screwed when people in India and Brazil stop buying the RAZR.

[Wesscoast Posted Jan 20th 2009 11:17PM]

@Mag

Er. the point is profit. how much profit does Apple make on each phone and how much do they get from ATT (or Vodaphone, etc) for each phone. Compare that to Motorolla making about $2 on each piece of junk 1998 style cell phone.

You're. Looking. At. the. wrong. numbers.

Does Motorolla even exist in the Smartphone market? Er...

[kjb434 Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:07PM]

Exactly.

99.9 million is still a lot of devices!

[Android Overlord Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:11PM]

Yeah we have no idea when those shipped though. Moto were a lot better off at the start of last year. They are in a worse state than they were half way through the summer.

[Android Overlord Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:13PM]

That should have been they were and and not they are.

[plexusXXX Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:35PM]

Yes, still a lot of crappy phones

[kjb434 Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:38PM]

The market for a "crappy" phone is much much larger than the market say for and iphone, pre, blackberry, htc devices. While the higher end phones are doing better because of a lot more choices and advancement, the common mobile phone user doesn't need or want the high end device.

[Android Overlord Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:09PM]

Moto are the new Palm or the old palm depending on which way it goes with the pre and WebOs of which I think they will epicly succeed. They are going to need a new lifeline.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:17PM]

hey, thats pretty cool. a little robot with a friendly face.

[Luke D Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:27PM]

Uh oh, Moto.

[darkmax Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:36PM]

I thought Motorola didn't hold that much market share since a long time ago. Never like Motorola.

Who're the first and second?

[Pillow Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:53PM]

You did read the article, didn't you?

[kjb434 Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:40PM]

For those of you can't seem to push the read link, the list is below.

Nokia
470million

Samsung Electronics
200million

LGE
100million

Motorola
99.9million

Sony Ericsson
96.6million

[darkmax Posted Jan 20th 2009 3:14PM]

Thanks guys! did not see the read link. Was watching Obama's inauguration.

[Crystalarc Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:18PM]

which lg phone is that pictured above?

[voodooroller Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:27PM]

I'm wondering that, too

[voodooroller Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:32PM]

Looks like it's the KF700

[Temple Posted Jan 20th 2009 2:41PM]

LG has really made some strides. Unfortunately, the headset market is competitive and low-margin.

[Raul7 Posted Jan 20th 2009 4:21PM]

So who is first and second? Samsung and Nokia?

[Big Al Posted Jan 20th 2009 7:26PM]

Nokia is still number 1. They sold more than twice the number of phones compared to Samsung, which is a pretty distant second.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 20th 2009 4:28PM]

I would never spend my money on the fuking ugly shit homo moto, ugly and low quality, one time drop and break straight away. First It was passed by Samsung, now LG, next Sony Erricson, I think Moto might as well just declare bankruptcy, what a useless company. In the UK now not many people walking around with Motorola anymore.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 20th 2009 5:37PM]

Moto has always kind of sucked, maybe not always... I remember when the MicroTac and such were top of the line, but since then it's been downhill. What I really can't understand is how Samsung can sell so many of it's shitty handsets, sure, they look nice, but reception & functionality is just awful! My SonyEricson has close to full reception where my Samsung has none! Seriously! (And yes, I've tried several to the same result).
Nokia & SonyEricson FTW! And I'm not just saying that because I'm Swedish...

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 20th 2009 6:36PM]

So, are people still writing off Nokia?

[Bjay Posted Jan 20th 2009 7:37PM]

I don't think so

[visitken Posted Jan 20th 2009 10:54PM]

With all due respect to Motorola, none of these numbers being discussed are officially from LG. They are based on analysts' research and forecasts so until LG and Motorola make it official, it's still a bit premature to close the book on 2008. :-) That said, Temple is correct that this is a competitive industry. I like to think that succeeding in a competitive industry is better than succeeding as a monopoly!

Ken Hong
Director, Global Communications
LG Electronics
Seoul, Korea

[superhobo Posted Jan 21st 2009 6:19AM]

Motorola was third? That's surprising...