Mobile handset sales to recover in fourth quarter

By Tarmo Virki, European technology correspondent

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Global sales of mobile handsets will snap a four-quarter losing streak in the last three months of the year as the industry is bouyed by a burgeoning economic recovery, a Reuters poll of analysts showed on Tuesday.

Sales are expected to rise 3 percent in the fourth quarter, as a stronger Christmas period adds some lustre to a 6.9 percent decline predicted for the full year, the poll of 31 banks, brokerages and research firms showed.

"The global handset industry will be heading out of recession in the fourth quarter," said Neil Mawston, analyst with Strategy Analytics.

While the broader industry has struggled, sales of smartphones have boomed, and analysts predict the smartphone market will grow 20 to 30 percent this year.

However, there are signs increased competition is starting to pressure margins and put some firms on the back foot.

This week the world's No. 4 smartphone brand HTC (2498.TW) said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to fall almost 15 percent from the same period a year earlier, as the sharpening rivalry forces prices lower.

Growth in the smartphone market slowed to just 4 percent in the third quarter, from 13 percent annual growth seen in the previous quarter, according to research firm Canalys.

"Consumers in Europe and Asia seem to continue to gravitate towards low-end smartphones and feature phones equipped with touch screens," said analyst Tero Kuittinen from MKM Partners.