LONDON, UK: Shipments of smartphones leapt 43 per cent in the second quarter, with Apple losing some share ahead of the launch of the new iPhone 4, communications research firm Strategy Analytics said.

Sixty million smartphones - phones with more computer-like capabilities like surfing the Web - were sold in the quarter to end-June, accounting for 19 per cent of all phone shipments, Strategy Analytics said on Thursday.

Nokia slightly widened its lead over competitors, capturing 40.3 per cent of the market, up from 38.8 per cent in the first quarter. BlackBerry maker RIM had 18.8 per cent, compared with 19.1 per cent in the first quarter.

Earlier, Nokia reported a sharp drop in profits, as expected, after it had warned it would have to slash smartphone prices to compete with Apple and phones based on Google's increasingly popular Android software.

Apple's market share fell to 14.1 per cent in the quarter, down from 15.9 per cent in the first quarter, with other smartphone makers accounting for the remaining 26.7 per cent of the market.

Apple launched the iPhone 4 on June 24 only to face heavy criticism from users because of the phone's wraparound antenna design, which drastically cuts signal strength if held in a certain way.

"The honeymoon period for Apple in the mobile world is clearly coming to an end," Strategy Analytics' global wireless practice director Neil Mawston wrote in a report.

But he said Apple's issues would also affect its competitors. "The risk of device failure for all vendors will continue to rise as smartphones become more complex to design."