By Kim Yoo-chul Staff Reporter South Korea's LG Electronics is expected to become the world’s No. 4 handset maker with its latest high-end models due to the won’s recent weakness and Sony Ericsson’s slowdown in growth of the European mobile phone market. Industry sources said Wednesday that LG is expected to sell over 23 million mobile phones in the first quarter, higher than some 21 million forecast earlier, while Sony-Ericsson is likely to sell only 22 million in the January-March period. In the first quarter last year, LG sold 15.8 million handsets against Sony Ericsson’s 21.8 million. ``We will surge ahead of Sony Ericsson in the first quarter thanks to our release of new models ― such as the `Viewty,’ `Venus’ and `Voyager’ ― and increased presence in new markets,’’ a high-ranking LG executive said. He added that more than 1 million Viewty phones have been sold globally since its introduction in the fourth quarter of last year. Mid-tier Voyager and Venus phones saw 700,000 and 500,000 sold respectively during the period. Over the past few years, LG has been injecting massive amounts of cash into its touch-screen mobile phones in the hope that the pricey phones will make a breakthrough for the company to compete with its bigger rivals. By contrast, Sony-Ericsson, currently the world’s fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer, is struggling in its strategic Europe as the stronger euro has been dragging down its shipments, while affecting sales. Sony-Ericsson heavily depends on the relatively saturated European market. About 46 percent of the company’s sales came from Europe in 2007. ``Last year, Sony-Ericsson put priority on diversifying its portfolio to lessen its reliance on the European market,’’ Chief Executive Dick Komiyama had said earlier by adding that the company aims to boost sales in new markets. Experts say competition between LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson is going to heat up as both companies have continuously introduced advanced phones either to overcome or secure their positions. ``The salient feature of the latest handset market is that a supplier hits on a successful theme and rides it like crazy in the market for a while until a different theme emerges somewhere else in the market,’’ the LG executive said. yckim@koreatimes.co.kr