Mobile Phone Industry

The mobile phone industry designs, manufactures, and sells handheld devices used for wireless voice and data communication, and has grown from a small niche market in the 1980s into one with billions of active devices worldwide. Market leadership has shifted several times, with Motorola dominant from 1983 to 1998, Nokia holding the top position from 1998 to 2012, and Samsung leading the market since surpassing Nokia in the first quarter of 2012. As of 2022, the five largest manufacturers by global market share were Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, together accounting for roughly two thirds of worldwide sales. Worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 1993 through 2024 to surpass 9.1 billion, more than enough for one subscription per person on Earth, though adoption in developing regions still lags the near-total smartphone penetration seen in developed markets.