Gartner said inventories of unsold phones grew by 13.3 million handsets in the quarter and were now higher than usual, equaling six to seven weeks of sales.
The second largest share of the global market was held by Samsung with 16.1%, and in third place was LG with 5.6%. Both were slightly down from the first quarter of 2010.
Apple, in fouth place, showed gains year-on-year, with a 3.9% share as compared to 2.3% last year.
Overall, the volume of cellphone sales was up by 19% over 2010 Q1 levels.
Smart phones recorded good sales, with 23.6% of all cellphones sold being in this category.
Analysts say that as many manufacturers plan to launch new smart phone models during the second quarter, it is likely that many consumers have delayed purchases until then.
The pecking order among operating systems was significantly different during the first three months of this year than it was one year previously. In 2010 Symbian held pole position with 44.2% of sales, followed by Android with 9.6%. During the first quarter of this year, Android had 36%, followed by Symbian with 27.4%,
Microsoft's share was 3.6%, down from 6.8%
Gartner said that rising inventories of unsold cellphones and slower demand growth in emerging countries will cap market growth in 2011.