Handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson has blamed a natural disaster, the economy and intense competition for a fall in Q4 and full-year 2011 revenues.

Sales from October to December last year fell to €1.3 billion, down from €1.5 over the same period in 2010, and were down from €1.6 billion in Q3 2011.

Full-year sales fell to €5.2 billion in 2011, a massive drop from the €6.3 billion in 2010.

“Our fourth quarter results reflected intense competition, unfavorable macroeconomic conditions and the effects of a natural disaster in Thailand this quarter,” said president and CEO Bert Nordberg.

Two key metrics, the number of units shipped and the average selling price, reflected the problems the company has currently and the challenges that it faces moving forward.

SE shipped 34.4 million units last year – 5.7 million fewer compared to 2010. However, the average selling price did increase to €152 as the number of smartphone sales rose.

“Throughout 2011 we’ve shifted our business from feature phones to smartphones, and our Android-based smartphone sales in the quarter increased by 65 percent year-on-year,” said Nordberg.

SE estimates that its share of the global Android-based smartphone market was 10 percent in volume and 10 percent in value in 2011.

This year, the company said it is hoping for success with its Xperia range to capitalise on what it says was a 60 percent rise in smartphones sales globally in 2011.

This is the last time that SE will report as a joint venture. As European Communications revealed last October, the company will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony by the end of February.