Motorola Closing in on Nokia

Motorola Inc. of Illinois is closing in on industry-leading Nokia, but still remains in second place behind the Finnish company.

The U.S. handset maker sold a stunning 50.2 million units of its new ultra-thin cell phones in the second quarter to boost its market share to 21.9 percent, Gartner Inc. reported. That’s a 4.2 percent rise over the same time last year.

Nokia, on the other hand, sold more than 77 million handsets for a second-quarter market share of 33.6 percent, Crain’s Chicago Business said Friday.

At the current rate, says Gartner, global handset sales should hit 906 million by year end.