Samsung poised to become world’s leading mobile device manufacturer

Nokia’s 14-year stint as the world’s largest handset-maker looks to have come to an end in Q1, according to a Reuters poll of analysts, which suggests the Finnish vendor has been overtaken by Samsung.

Based on average estimates, the poll shows that Samsung is expected to have sold 88 million devices in the period, compared to 83 million for Nokia.

Samsung is not due to release its official Q1 numbers until April 27, but Nokia revealed its shrinking sales figures in a profits warning.

According to Reuters, Nokia became the world’s largest handset maker in 1998 when it overtook Motorola – at a time when Samsung had just entered the industry. The Finnish vendor maintained a 40 per cent share of the market for some years prior to the launch of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, which ushered in the smartphone era. Nokia was still the smartphone leader at the beginning of 2011 but has since been surpassed by both Apple and Samsung.

Nokia said this week that it expects to ship 71 million regular phones and 12 million smart devices in Q1, compared with 84.3 million and 24.2 million, respectively, a year earlier.

Some analysts believe that losing the top spot would be a blow to Nokia, but would have little impact on its attempt to turn around its fortunes.