Demand for slim cell phones helps spark uptick in sales

Domestic mobile handset sales in Korea are showing signs of recovery because of high demand for new products, industry sources said yesterday. According to industry sources, handset sales in the domestic market totaled 1.53 million units in July, up from 1.38 million units in June and 970,000 units in May. Handset makers such as Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Co. and the Pantech Group attributed the increase to brisk demand buoyed by a recent government move to ease regulations on subsidies for customer purchase of new handsets. In March, the Korean government partially lifted a three-year ban on subsidies, allowing mobile carriers to grant more than 200,000 won ($208) in financial help for customers who used the same operator for more than 18 months. In Korea, mobile carriers market handsets on behalf of handset manufacturers. Samsung, the country’s No. 1 mobile handset seller, saw its market share top 50 percent in July on brisk sales of its slim phones. In the first half, its market share stood at 45 percent. For example, Samsung sold 160,000 units of its new product, the SPH.V 8900, in the past two months. LG Electronics, the country’s No. 2 handset maker, saw its market share rise to 24 percent in July from 20 percent in June, thanks to new models. Meanwhile, the sales of mobile handsets featuring terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) reached 388,000 units. Handset sales in the domestic market will continue to expand in the third quarter due to the introduction of new models, including DMB phones, and the popularity of ultra-slim phones.