The global handset industry snapped out of its "year-long recession" in the fourth quarter and is expected to remain on a recovery path in the first quarter with handset shipments seen growing by 8%, research firm Strategy Analytics said in a report Friday.

Global handset shipments rose by 10% to 324.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with 293.8 million a year earlier, marking the first quarter of growth since the third quarter of 2008.

Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE), the world's two biggest handset makers by shipments, were the only firms to increase their global market share in the three months ended Dec. 31 from the previous quarter.

That was at the expense of smaller players like LG Electronics Inc. (066570.SE), Sony Ericsson -- the joint venture between Sweden's LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (ERIC) and Japan's Sony Corp. (SNE) -- and U.S.-based Motorola Inc. (MOT).

"The higher handset sales were driven by a combination of better GDP growth, increasing consumer confidence, ongoing operator restocking and a (steady) pipeline of high-profile handset launches from major brands such as Nokia and Samsung," Strategy Analytics said.

Full-year handset shipments still fell 4% from a year earlier to 1.13 billion in 2009. While Strategy Analytics did not give a forecast for 2010 shipments, it expects first-quarter handset shipments to rise to 265 million from 244.5 million a year earlier.

"Consumers, operators and handset vendors are steadily regaining confidence. However, some major regions, such as South America, are still a little fragile, so it will not always be a smooth recovery and some regions will fare better than others, " Strategy Analytics Director of Global Wireless Practice Neil Mawston said in a separate statement.

 
   2009 4Q Global Handset Shipments And Market Share
 
                            (Units in millions)