Samsung Unseats Nokia as World's Largest Mobile Device Vendor

Following a 14-year run at the top, Nokia has been overtaken by Samsung as the world's largest mobile device vendor. Nokia sold 83m phones during the first quarter and while Samsung does not report the number of phones it ships each quarter, Strategy Analytics estimates that the Korean giant shipped 93.5m devices last quarter. Of course, some of those phones may still be sitting on store shelves and in warehouses.

"Five years after it captured the number-two spot from Motorola, Samsung has finally become the world's largest handset vendor in volume terms," says Alex Spektor, associate director at Strategy Analytics, adding that Samsung captured a 25 per cent market share.

"Nokia's global handset shipments declined a huge 24 percent annually to 82.7 million units in Q1 2012. Volumes were squeezed at both ends, as low-end feature phone shipments in emerging markets stalled and high-end Microsoft Lumia smartphones were unable to offset the rapid decline of Nokia's legacy Symbian business. Nokia was the world's largest handset vendor between 1998 and 2011, for 14 years, before finally yielding top position to rival Samsung this quarter," add Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics.

Samsung posted $5.2bn in profit on $37.3bn in revenue. Mobile devices comprised nearly three quarters of the company's total profit. Strategy Analytics estimates Samsung shipped 44.5m smartphones during the quarter, putting it well above Apple's 35.1m iPhones sold last quarter.