This is the biggest quarter on record since Gartner started tracking the market on a quarterly basis in 2001.

This combined with an expected strong fourth quarter, means Gartner has increased its worldwide mobile handset sales forecasts to reach 810 million units in 2005.

"Year on year sales grew in all regions as replacement sales in mature markets such as Western Europe and North America continued to drive growth while users in emerging markets joined mobile networks and acquired their first mobile device," says Carolina Milanesi, principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner, based in Egham, U.K.

In the third quarter of 2005, Nokia delivered another solid performance at a worldwide level with Western Europe and Asia Pacific making up for North America and Latin America, where sales were weaker.

During the quarter, Nokia started shipping ten new devices, five for the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) markets and five for the code division multiple access (CDMA) market.