According to research firm Gartner global mobile phone sales declined six percent in Q2 2009. While handset sales as a whole were on the decline, sales of smartphones grew an impressive 27%.

One of the notable launches during the quarter was of the Palm Pre. The Pre created lots of buzz, but according to Gartner, the Pre failed to generate lots of sales for Palm and Sprint. The research firm estimates that only 205,000 units were sold.

Gartner ranks Palm at tenth place in the smartphone market. HTC held the fourth place spot in the market with Apple in third, Samsung in second and Nokia in the top spot.

[via Gartner]