Sony Ericsson saw profit jump 55 percent in its latest fiscal quarter as the cell-phone maker shipped nearly 25 million units worldwide, the company said Wednesday.

The London-based joint venture between Ericsson and Sony said profit grew to 3.1 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in its second quarter compared to 2.3 billion euros a year ago. Revenue also grew by 37 percent to 3.1 billion euros from 2.3 billion euros the previous year.

The company did say that its average selling price per unit did decrease, but attributed the decline to new low and mid-tier phones that it began selling in emerging economies. The price per handset declined 14 percent to 125 euros from 145 euros.

It did cement its leadership in the music phone segment. Over 9 million walkman branded phones, with MP3 music playing capabilities were sold during the quarter.

We expect the market in 2007 to remain competitive, but with recently announced products...we aim to continue to grow faster than the market, said Miles Flint, Sony Ericsson's president.

With recently announced products, such as the Walkman and Cyber-shot models, the venture aims to continue to grow faster than the market.

Flint suggested the global handset market for 2007 will reach more than 1.1 billion units.

It managed to grow its share of the cell-phone market to over 9 percent in the quarter, a 3 percent rise from the previous year. The growth places the phone-maker fourth overall.

Electronics Sony