Market analysts The NPD Group have released their latest US cellphone performance figures, detailing sales of handsets during 2007.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, the iPhone – despite only launching midway through the year – made a significant impact on the market; it comprised 3.7m of the 146m handsets shipped in total, equating to a respectable 2.5-percent and overall sixth place for Apple in manufacturer rankings.  Meanwhile troubled giant Motorola maintained its number one position, sliding a single point on 2006’s performance to 32-percent of the market, while Samsung and LG swapped places: Samsung taking second place with 17-percent and LG third with 16-percent.

Nokia, which has historically performed better in Europe than the US, took fourth place with 10-percent of sales, and Sanyo fifth place with 4-percent.  When restricted to smartphone models, the iPhone accounts for 12-percent of sales in Q4 2007 or 19.1-percent of the US smartphone market in the year as a whole.  It placed fifth out of the top handsets sold in Q4.

The NPD Group tip high-speed 3G internet access and non-D-pad control as the pivotal factors driving sales in 2008.

[via Electronista]