LG Electronics Inc raised its forecast for the world handset market this year, but kept its own shipment estimate unchanged, saying the additional global growth will come from low-end phones.
The No 4 maker of cellphones forecast that the industry would ship up to 900 million handsets in 2006, Mun-Hwa Park, chief executive of LG's cellphone business, told Reuters on Thursday. LG's earlier estimate was 820-860 million units.
LG and South Korean competitor Samsung Electronics Co Ltd do not compete in the low-end market, lagging well behind Nokia and Motorola Inc, which have achieved volume sales with cheap phones.
The popularity of phones costing as low as $30, especially in emerging markets, was one of the reasons behind last year's market growth.