Global consumer electronics sales were up 4.2% last quarter over the first, market researcher iSuppli reports.

Year-over-year sales were down 11%, but Q2 sales were to $71.1 billion from $68.3 billion in Q1.

Sales dropped 25.8% between Q109 and Q408. Part of that plummet had to do with the usual shopping recess after the holidays.

VentureBeat writes that "the data is consistent with sales reports in the chip industry, which also saw sales grow in the second quarter, compared with the first quarter."

Third quarter sales are expected to rise another 12.5% and fourth quarter sales are expected to increase by about 10% over the previous quarter.

Falling prices in categories like digital cameras, flat-panel TVs and game consoles might have helped spike consumer spending, though not always. Handheld video games, game consoles, camcorders and rear-projection TVs did experience sales declines this quarter.

Overall, iSuppli estimates sales will decline by about 8% in 2009.