Samsung, the largest electronics manufacturer in Asia, is ahead of Nokia for the first time on mobile phone sales, becoming the world leader in the first quarter due to the popularity of Galaxy smartphones, estimated analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The South Korean company shipped a total of about 92 million mobile phones in the first three months, according to the average forecast made by five analysts. Samsung probably sold 44 million smartphones in the first quarter, over three times more than the same period of last year, estimated in early April an analyst at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Seoul.
Nokia announced on Wednesday that it sold in the first quarter 83 million mobile phones, of which 12 million smartphone devices and 71 million common models. The Finnish company has been a global leader on the mobile phone market for the past 14 years.
Samsung has benefited from the popularity of Galaxy smartphones, while Nokia’s market share fell, as buyers are attracted Apple iPhones and devices with Google’s Android operating system. “Samsung takes Nokia’s place quickly”, said Lee Sun Tae, an analyst at Investment & Securities Company in Seoul. Tae believes that Nokia will continue to lose ground, due to the lack of competitiveness on the smartphone segment.
A Samsung spokesperson in Seoul, James Chung, refused to comment on analysts’ estimates on the number of phones sold, citing company policy not to disclose such data. Samsung reported last week an operating profit above expectations, 5,800 billion won ($5.1 billion) in the quarter ended March 31, compared to 2.950 billion won a year ago.
Nokia revised down on Wednesday its estimates of profit for the mobile phone division in the first quarter, due to the impact of intense competition; Finnish company’s shares fell by 14%. The company estimates that operating margin of the phone and services division was in the first quarter at -3% compared with zero, as originally anticipated. Nokia (NYSE:NOK) shares fell Thursday 7.5%.
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