Samsung is now probably the world's biggest phone maker

 Estimates show that Samsung shipped between 41 and 44 million smartphones, and somewhere around 44 to 47 million feature phones. This puts Samsung’s lowest estimate for phone sales in Q1 at 85 million units, and even this lowest estimate is higher than Nokia’s total of 83 million phones sold.

This is likely the quarter that Samsung overtakes Nokia. The Finns started losing their positions earlier, but in Q2 2011 the smartphone decline showed and Apple became the world’s biggest in smartphone sales. Since then, Apple and Samsung have been fighting for the smartphone sales throne, but in total sales Nokia still dominated thanks to its widespread feature phones. This is no longer the case.

What happened? Two things. First, Android reached the low end extremely fast. Big name phone makers like Samsung offer smartphones like the Galaxy Pocket starting at around $100. That squeezes feature phones to even cheaper territories where margins are virtually non-existant. Second, Nokia lost its key markets - China, India, the Middle East and Africa, all critical for Nokia Symbian sales, showed that Symbian is no longer an option for them.

It seems that Samsung is now officially the king of global phone sales.

source: Asymco