U.S. mobile phone sales top 143 million units in 2006

Port Washington (NY) - Sales of mobile phones reached a new record level in Q4 of 2006. According to a report released by NPD today, more than 143 million mobile phones were shipped in the U.S. last year, resulting in sales of $8.8 billion.

"U.S. handset sales remained strong throughout 2006," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group. "A continual flow of new devices with data-capable features, combined with carrier promotions and rebates, have served to broaden the market of consumers who purchase new phones and wireless plans." With 143 million units shipped during 2006, the U.S. took a share of about 14% of the global cellphone market.

NPD said that 32% of all mobile phones sold no can play back digital music, 21% of devices offer the ability to increase storage capacity through a flash memory card, 49% of phones come with Bluetooth wireless connectivity and two-thirds of all cellphones sold integrate a digital camera.

On a vendor basis, Motorola continues to dominate the U.S. market with a share of 33%, followed by LG with 16%, Nokia with 15% and Samsung with 15%.

Verizon and Cingular/AT&T continued to battle for the top spot in both subscriber share and share of new phone sales. In 2006, Cingular/AT&T comprised 27% of all subscribers and 27% of all new phone sales. Verizon also comprised 27% of all subscribers, but only 23% of new phone sales.