Samsung has taken out the top spot for global mobile phone shipments, according to American research company IHS.
It is the first time in 14 years that Nokia has been knocked off the number one position.
Samsung is now expected to account for 29 per cent of global mobile phone shipments, up from 24 per cent in 2011, according to IHS' iSuppli Mobile and Wireless Communications Service.
Nokia’s global mobile shipments, meanwhile, dropped from 30 per cent in 2011 to 24 per cent this year.
Apple took out third place, increasing global shipments from 7 per cent to 10 per cent.
“The competitive reality of the [mobile phone] market in 2012 was ‘live by the smartphone; die by the smartphone,’” Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS, said in a statement.
“Smartphones represent the fastest-growing segment of the cellphone market – and will account for nearly half of all wireless handset shipments for all of 2012. Samsung’s successes and Nokia’s struggles in the [mobile phone] market this year were determined entirely by the two companies’ divergent fortunes in the smartphone sector.”
When it comes to smartphone shipments, Samsung also retained the number one spot, increasing shipments in 2011 from 20 per cent to 28 per cent this year.
Apple came in second, increasing smartphone shipments just 1 per cent to 20 per cent this year.
Meanwhile, Nokia is losing the smartphone war, with a drop of 11 per cent in smartphone shipments from 16 per cent in 2011 to 5 per cent in 2012.
While smartphone shipments are expected to increase by 35.5 per cent in 2012, overall mobile shipments are predicted to increase just 1 per cent.
Samsung and Apple will account for 49 per cent of all smartphone shipments in 2012, an increase of 10 per cent from 2011.
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