Nokia, RIM and HTC are expected to see their smartphone shipments, as well as market share, continue declining in the third and fourth quarters of 2012 due to a lag in migration to new platforms and weakening competitiveness of their products, according to industry sources.
Despite efforts initiated by Nokia, RIM and HTC to fend off competition from Apple and Samsung Electronics, RIM and HTC have reported lower than expected shipments for the second quarter of 2012, while Nokia is expected to see its second-quarter smartphone shipments drop below 10 million units, said the sources.
Although HTC managed to post a sequential gain in shipments in the second quarter, its second-quarter smartphone shipments barely reached nine million units, pointed out the sources.
HTC is expected to see its shipments stay flat or drop to eight million units in the third quarter and slip further to seven million in the fourth quarter, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.
RIM shipped only eight million units in the second quarter, and the vendor is expected to meet more headwinds in the second half, since it has decided to delay the launch of its BlackBerry 10 to the first quarter of 2013, commented the sources.
It will also be more difficult for Nokia to push sales of Windows Phone 7.5-based models in the third quarter as consumers are waiting for the launch of Windows Phone 8 smartphones, indicated the sources.