Global mobile phone sales have increased by 35 per cent in the second quarter compared with the same period last year market monitors Gartner have revealed.

All regions saw stronger demand with replacement handsets fuelling the more mature US and European market.

In the US, replacement sales were high as new generation handsets, often subsidised by mobile phone companies, attracted customers willing to upgrade.

Phones incorporating new features such as cameras are proving particularly popular, suggesting the market will continue to expand as cheaper more advanced phones are released onto the market.

Gartner's report also highlighted Nokia's continuing loss of market share to rivals Motorola and Samsung.

Although its price-cutting strategy helped it regain some of its market share Nokia sales share of the global market was still down compared with the second quarter of 2003.

Motorola expanded in the burgeoning Latin American market but lost sales in China where government efforts to slow the economy cooled mobile phone sales.

The increasing level of mobile phone sales could prove a boon for the platinum industry - with the precious metal being used in the production of the LCD screens that adorn most handsets.