While Nokia stays at the top of the list with shipments of 461 million units in 4Q09, Gartner notes the vendor’s market share fell from 36.4% in 4Q09 to 28.9% in the recent quarter.
The Finnish vendor was hit by growing shipments of white label handsets that put its low- and mid-tier devices under pressure, adding to its well-publicized woes in high-end smartphones.
White label shipments hit 115 million during 4Q10, taking the total for 2010 to 360 million units.
Milanesi states the rise of the white labels is due to “an increase in addressable market for mobile devices manufacturers as consumers shift their behavior to buying new phones from legitimate channels over second-hand and black market devices.