Analyzing the world's 11 biggest handset makers in Q1 2012 Samsung - In Q1 Samsung took the handset shipment crown from

Nokia which had hel d the No. 1 spot for over a decade. Additionally Samsung widened its lead in sma rtphone shipments over Apple with 42 million units shipped. With pre-orders of t he Galaxy S3 already in the millions and the continued success of the Galaxy S2 and the 5" Galaxy Note 'Phablet,' it appears that Samsung will only widen its le ad over competitors in 2012. Nokia - The No. 2 position is new territory for Nokia, as its handset shipments dropped 24% YoY and 27% sequentially. Nokia is not just losing share to competit ors in the smartphone space where its shipments declined to 11.9 million from 19 .6 in Q4 2011; Nokia's portfolio low end of devices also saw shipments decrease by 23 million from the previous quarter. The problem is not just a regional coll apse as every region except North America saw a precipitous drop in shipments. T o put it in perspective, Nokia's single quarter shipment decline is equal to ZTE and LG combined shipments this quarter. Two more quarters of this and Nokia wil l have to struggle to remain in the top ten. ABI Research believes it is time to put Nokia on death watch. Apple - Apple's shipment decline of 5% can be attributed to seasonality and the regularly expected drop in shipments from a post launch quarter. Although ABI R esearch estimates shipments will decline again in Q2, this should not be viewed as a decrease in demand for iPhones, but a buildup in demand for the next iPhone expected to be released in Q3. If Apple can maintain its current rate of growth with its upcoming iPhone, ABI Research believes Apple could become the No. 2 ha ndset OEM by 2013. ZTE - ZTE remains a bit of a dark horse in the global handset race, as it continues to show annual shipment growth and plans to double is smartphone shipm ents in 2012. ZTE continues to focus on becoming a globally recognized consumer brand and believes the U.S. will be its largest market by 2015. ZTE's low cost h andsets are ideal for the growing interest in prepaid smartphones, but ABI Resea rch believes that by 2015, China will be ZTE's (and others) best bet for smartph one sales. LG - LG Shipments declined 44% YoY and the company continues to lose market sha re in the collapsing feature phone market. Despite LG's continued decline in shi pments, the company did something highly remarkable in the handset industry: aft er 7 quarters in the red, LG is back in the black! ABI Research notes that histo rically when a handset company with declining sales slips into the red, over 90% of the time, the company never recovers and is either acquired or goes out of b usiness. It has been LG's slowly improving performance in the smartphone segment that has taken the handset division off of life support, but ABI Research still believes this patient will require careful monitoring before a clean bill of he alth can be given. Blackberry (RIM) - RIM has faced numerous challenges over the past year which ha s led to sweeping changes in its top management. RIM's shipments continue to dec line as its portfolio of devices continue to look somewhat archaic against its c ompetitors in developed markets. While RIMs handsets continue to have a luke war m reception outside of North America, ABI Research believes that it was RIM's lo ss at home that sparked its general global decline. Furthermore in Q1, RIM was n ot profitable, which when combined with declining shipments is the telltale sign of impending doom for a handset company. Despite all signs pointing to serious trouble, it should be noted that RIM does have enough cash to keep running for a nother year and that RIM will release new BB10 smartphones before time runs out. If RIM can deliver the type of smartphones that will win back North American co nsumers, RIM could be one of the lucky few to come back from the red. Considerin g early demonstrations of the BB10 devices, ABI Research is not fully convinced

that RIM is down for the count. Huawei - Historically considered a low cost Chinese handset OEM ,Huawei shares t he international stage with ZTE and TCL/Alcatel, as a rising star from China. H uawei has leveraged its prolific set of carrier infrastructure relationships to deploy its low-cost handsets in nearly every region. Huawei continues to grow fr om low-cost handsets to low-cost Android smartphones and like its Chinese brethr en is one of the few OEM's that can deliver a sub-$150 smartphone today. With Ch ina's appetite for Apple's smartphones increasing every day, Huawei is seeking t o move up the value stream with its smartphones and hopefully get a peice of App le's pie. Motorola - As Google gains approval from China for its acquisition of Mot orola, overall handset shipments continued to decline 2% YoY while smartphone sh ipments were up 20%. Despite the improved smartphone to feature phone ratio, Mot orola failed to be profitable for the fifth consecutive quarter. With Samsung an d Apple pushing other OEMs out of Motorola's primary U.S. market it will be incr easingly important for Motorola to find greater success overseas. Motorola will need to depend on more than the U.S. market if it does not want to be a weight on Google's profits and OEM relationships. TCL (Alcatel) - TCL is a well-known electronics brand in China that had forme d a joint venture with Alcatel of France to leverage new markets and carrier rel ationships. For TCL this means strong growth of sales of entry- to mid-level dev ices in EMEA and LATAM. The Alcatel / TCL device portfolio is a mix of low- end candy bar devices and colorful clamshell devices with basic media capabilities. Most TCL handsets are designed to meet the universal needs of all regions serve d by Alcatel and TCL, allowing for greater production volume per device model. T CL's effecient prodcution has allowed it to offer low-cost 3G handsets that are sought after by consumers moving from 2G. TCL is continuing to leverage its lowcost production capabilities to offer sub-$150 Android smartphones, and remains one of the few OEMs that can do that today. Sony Mobile - Sony Mobile Communications (formerly Sony Ericsson) will becom e the first handset OEM to fully complete a transition from feature phones to sm artphones. While some issues are to be expected when simultaneously shifting pro duct strategies and ownership, Sony has continued to grow its smartphone shipmen ts but not its profits. ABI Research believes that with a 100% (currently at 90% ) smartphone portfolio, Sony will have to begin finding its way to profitability in the very near future or its apperance in the top 10 list will be short lived . HTC - While technically not in the top ten this quarter, HTC's historic performa nce has earned itself a mention on this list regardless. HTC shipments experienc ed its second sequential 30% decline in a row. North America used to account for 50% of HTC shipments (currently 25%), but HTC's rush to produce LTE smartphones for the U.S. has been halted by terrible battery life, mediocre performance and the iPhone 4S. HTC has all but conceded the North American market to Samsung an d Apple and will refocus on developing its presence in China and its new One ser ies devices that ABI Research believes are the most technologically sophisticate d devices HTC has ever accomplished.