According to an August 12 report by Gartner, global shipments of mobile devices witnessed a 13.8 percent increase during the second quarter; largely because of a whopping 50.5 percent increase in the year-on-year sales of smartphone sales, in spite of supply shortages.

As per the Gartner report, the release of new handsets - by Apple, HTC and Motorola - during the second quarter significantly contributed to the worldwide total shipments' figure of nearly 325.6 million.

The new smartphones helped in increasing the sales tally of overall mobile device by 13.8 percent year-on-year; thereby enabling the smartphone segment to capture 19 percent of overall mobile device sales - marking an increase 50.5 percent from the totals during the same quarter last year.

The top position in terms of overall devices sales as well as smartphone sales during the second quarter was retained by Nokia - with a 34.2 percent market share and a 41.2 percent market share respectively in the two segments.

Nokia was followed by Samsung in overall devices sales with a 20.1 percent market share; and by Research In Motion (RIM) in the smartphones' arena, with an 18.2 percent share amongst smartphone sellers.

Commenting on the second-quarter figures, Gartner Research Vice President Carolina Milanesi said in a statement: "Launches of updated operating systems will help maintain strong growth in smartphones in the second half of 2010 and spur innovation."