Sales of mobile phones across the world hit a new high with 294.3 million units sold in the first quarter of 2008, displaying 13.6 percent hike over the first quarter of 2007, said Gartner, Inc.

Amongst the mobile phone companies, Nokia, while maintaining its leadership position sold 115.2 million mobile phones in the first quarter of 2008. In the second position is the South Korean vendor Samsung with a first quarter 2008 sale of 42.8 million units. The beleaguered phone company Motorola’s first quarter sale slumped down to 29.8 million units.

The fourth position showed a slight shake-up with LG beating Sony Ericsson for the fourth slot with sales of 23.6 million units. Sony Ericsson strung on the fifth slot with sales touching a mere 22.1 million units.

Furthermore, Gartner, Inc said the sales in emerging markets continued to show an upward trend but the mature markets on the other hand crunched under the pressure of uncertain economic environment.

Upcoming mobile market- Asia/Pacific demonstrated a good performance with the sale of 114.4 million mobile devices, boasting of 26.6 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2007. India and South Korea stood out as high-growth markets amongst the Asia/Pacific countries.

Sales in the Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa region reached 56.4 million units, which represented a 25.8 per cent increase year-on-year. Sales of mobile handsets in the Latin America region increased by nearly 28.4 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2007, to reach nearly 32.5 million units in the first quarter of 2008. 

In North America, sales of mobile devices showed a 2.4 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007 at 41.9 million unit sale in the first quarter of 2008.

While anticipating 10 to 15 percent growth in mobile phone industry, Gartner, Inc projected an industry driven mainly by the emerging market.