Sony Ericsson has sold more than 20 million Walkman phones

Net income at the Swedish-Japanese firm was 254m euros (�172.6m; $345.5m) during the first quarter of 2007, up from 109m euros a year earlier.

Sales surged 32% to 2.9bn euros from 1.99bn euros a year ago, the firm said.

The results come after rival phone firms Nokia and Motorola reported weak sales as prices came under pressure.

Sony Ericsson also said that its margins improved despite the average cost of a handset dropping to 134 euros from 149 euros in 2006.

'Disappointed'

The company said that its had seen strong sales of cheaper handsets, such as the W300 and W200 Walkman phones, and the K310 camera phone in Asia Pacific, Latin America and Europe.

That has helped increase the company's market share to more than 8% in the quarter, according to Sony Ericsson.

Some analysts said that they were disappointed with the poor market share gain, but added that margins looked good.

The company is the last of the major mobile handset vendors to release first quarter earnings.

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, reported on Thursday that it had to lower profits as it slashed prices to attract buyers in emerging markets.

Last month, Motorola surprised markets by saying it would post a loss in the first three months of this year and lowered its revenue targets