Mobile phones are one of the hottest categories of electronic devices around the world. While the smartphone gets most of the press and is one of the biggest growth categories in the segment, most users still opt for basic phones.

According to research, firm IDC worldwide cell phone shipments grew 15.3% in Q2 2008 with 306 million phones shipped. In Q1 2008, 289.7 million phones were shipped total. In Q2 of 2007, 265.4 million cell phones were shipped for a 15.3% increase. Smartphones are still seeing year-over-year growth of 40%.

IDC also ranked the top five mobile phone manufacturers by units shipped and percentage of the cell phone market. The top mobile phone maker was Nokia with a 39.9% share of the market and shipments of 122 million units. Samsung holds the second place spot with 14.9% of the market and 45.7 million units shipped. Third pace goes to Motorola with 9.2% of the market and 28.1 million units shipped. A very close forth place goes to LG with 9.1% of the market and shipments of 24.4 million phones. Fifth place goes to struggling Sony Ericsson with 8% of the global market and 24.4 million phones shipped for the quarter.

IDC