WASHINGTON, April 21: Global mobile phone shipments slowed during the first three months of the year, but market leader Nokia still shipped over 90 million handsets, an industry survey showed on Friday.

The survey by research firm IDC said overall global shipments grew 10 per cent during the quarter compared with last year, as market growth cooled.

Finnish phone-maker Nokia shipped double the number of handsets of its closest rival, US phone maker Motorola, which is struggling to maintain momentum and ring up fresh sales amid a fierce price war.

Nokia shipped 91.1 million units compared to Motorola which shipped 45.4 million handsets during the first quarter, according to IDC.

Nokia's year-over-year shipments grew just over 21 per cent, but Motorola's shipments dropped 1.5 per cent, the survey found. The US firm was the only one of the top five to see a decline in sales.

Samsung, the third largest maker, shipped 34.8 million handsets followed by Japanese-Swedish group Sony Ericsson, which shipped 21.8 million units, and Korea's LG Electronics, which moved 15.8 million phones.

IDC said the slower sales pace was not surprising because so many people already own mobile phones. IDC said fresh demand is expected to come from owners looking to upgrade their phones, rather than from people buying a first phone.—AFP