Profits fall but sales increase for Sony Ericsson.

Sony Ericsson has increased it’s market share of mobile phone shipments, but has seen profits actually fall.

The firm has reported a pre tax profit of five hundred and forty six million dollars in the three months preceding September 30th, a fall of eleven percent from last year.

The fall in year-on-year profits was the firms first since the first quarter of 2005.

The fall was blamed on an unusually strong performance last year due to the launch of the popular Cybershot phone, the firm has also delayed launching a number of new handsets until the fourth quarter of 2007.

The deal between Sony and Ericisson saw it overtake LG electronics to become the fourth largest phone manufacturer in the world, with nine percent market share of phone shipments.