Nokia to Lose Smartphone Sales Lead This Quarter, Gartner Says
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Nokia Oyj, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, will lose its position as the biggest seller of smartphones this quarter for the first time as handsets running Google Inc.’s Android become cheaper, Gartner Inc. said.
Nokia sold 20.9 percent of the smartphones purchased by consumers in the second quarter as phone companies and retailers sold off overstock of its older Symbian phones at lower prices, Roberta Cozza, a Gartner analyst, said by phone. The phonemaker, which has held the top spot in Gartner’s smartphone surveys since their start in 2006, is shifting to a new line based on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone software to compete with Android and Apple Inc.’s iPhone.