Motorola confirmed investors' worst fears today when it revealed a 40 per cent fall in mobile phone sales over the second quarter, putting Ed Zander, its chief executive, under renewed pressure to step down.

The American technology group said that revenue from mobile phone sales fell to $4.2 billion (£2 billion) in the three months to June 30, compared with $7.1 billion in the second quarter last year.

Motorola blamed the decline on poor trading in Asia and Europe.

During the second quarter, the company shipped 35.5 million mobile handsets, which was in line with market expectations but below the same three months last year, when 45.4 million phones left Motorola's factories.

Over the first six months of its financial year, turnover from mobile phones fell by 29 per cent to $9.6 billion, compared with the same period last year.

Mr Zander, who left Sun Microsystems for Motorola in 2003, has been under growing pressure to resign from the company because of falling profits at the business.

Overall sales at Motorola fell from $10.8 billion in the second quarter last year to $8.7 billion in its most recent three months.

The company recorded a $28 million loss in three months, compared with the second quarter last year, when it announced a net gain of £1.3 billion.

Mr Zander said: "This was a challenging quarter for Motorola in which revenue fell short of our expectations due to a decline in mobile device unit shipments."

Elsewhere in the company, Motorola said that sales from its home and networks mobility group increased by 9 per cent to $2.5 billion during the quarter.

The division that makes IT for offices recorded a 42 per cent rise in revenues to $1.9 billion.

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