Samsung appears to have toppled Finnish mobile giant Nokia and may be even Apple’s iPhone and become the largest selling mobile handset manufacturer in the world. Nokia, who has been on the top spot in the mobile handset since 1998, has finally shifted to second position. This information was released as part of Samsung’s first quarter sales report for 2012, which has record-breaking figures. Even though the company did not reveal exact numbers, analysts have estimate that the company might have sold as many as 44.5 million smartphone handsets in the first three months of this year.
If that is true, then Samsung might have toppled Apple as well in terms sales because the iOS maker sold about 35.1 million iPhones during the same period of time. But then Apple makes only one model of the iPhone whereas Samsung has multiple models spanning both Android and Windows Phone. Overall though, Samsung has sold 93.5 million phones and thereby topping the 82.7 million phones that Nokia sold during the same period. After losing out on the smartphone market twice and betting everything it has on Windows Phone, this is the latest sign of Nokia’s decline as market leader.
Samsung’s estimated sales figures put it at 30.6 percent market share and Apple’s figures puts it at 24.1 percent of the market. This means that between themselves, Samsung and Apple have the majority market share in the smartphone business. This also means that two are the only major players in a market where other players are being constantly side lined and pushed out. Nokia’s decline is a major sign of this.
Samsung has been constantly in news for being one of the largest selling Android smartphone maker for most of last year. Its Galaxy series of handsets have being selling quite well in the recent past and have successfully generated a lot of buzz around the brand. Even though most of its offerings are on Android, Samsung also intends to work on Galaxy branded smartphones for the upcoming Windows 8 platform from Microsoft.
Nokia is already working closely with Microsoft to develop handsets on the Windows Phone platform. So it is possible that they will have a head start on the platform but Samsung massive presence may ultimately muscle them out of the race.
The latest Samsung Galaxy is in fact going to be launched next week at the Unpacked event in London. This is the long awaited Galaxy S3 and it is supposed to come with a bevvy of new features, including the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS and a Quad-Core processor. It is also supposed to have a 5inch screen and a Super AMOLED display but then nothing has been confirmed so far. The German Amazon portal accidentally listed the S3 ahead of its launch and gave away a few details
