Q2 2007 data for handset shipments are now available. Overall, more than 250m devices were sold during the quarter, so that the billion mark should easily be reached for the whole year. This slow but steady growth is ensured by a strong replacement market in mature countries and the boom of emerging markets such as India or China.

Nokia is the clear winner with 39% market share. The tough years where the Finnish OEM lost its design flair and went down to a 30% market share are now over. Amazingly, margins remain best-in-class even though Nokia pushed sales in emerging markets.

Building on the attractive design of its Ultra collection, Samsung grabbed the second spot with 15% share. Motorola went down to third place with 14% share, still not able to recover from the RAZR hangover. Fair to say though that it might just be the trough, as the new portfolio announced a couple of months ago - RIZR, Q9, RAZR 2 - have still not launched in all markets.

Sony Ericsson is the second clear winner with the fastest growth - +50% y-o-y - and 10% market share. The Swedish-Japanese JV is still building on its Walkman and Cybershot branded devices. A new trend last quarter was the availability under these brands of more affordable, "low-end" handsets. Rumour has it that Bravia - for Mobile TV - and Playstation - for gaming - branded devices are on the roadmap.

Closing the Top 5, LG kept on strengthening its position with 7% market share, with the Shine and Prada handsets following the success of the Chocolate. This highlights how the OEM market is becoming more and more concentrated with 5 players having 85% of the total market.