Global sales of mobile phones exceeded 510 million units in 2003 to surpass even the most bullish expectations.
Growth continues at a rapid rate in 2004, research group Gartner Dataquest said on today.
Preliminary numbers show mobile phone unit sales of 560 million in 2004 amid strong demand for colour screen and camera models in mature markets such as Europe, Japan and the United States, as well as booming emerging markets such as China, Brazil, Russia and India.
"It is an exceptionally strong market. It's much stronger than the handset makers themselves have indicated," said Gartner analyst Mr Ben Wood.
Most handset makers said the total market was around 460 million units in 2003, while market researchers had expected 500 million, up from around 420 million in 2002.
By underplaying the total size of the market, the number of phones sold gives manufacturers a larger market share.
The world's largest handset maker Nokia said it had sold 55.3 million phones in the final quarter of 2003, Motorola 22.4 million, Samsung Electronics 15.5 million, Siemens 15.2 million, LG nine million and Sony Ericsson eight million.