* Samsung seen shipping 88 mln cellphones in Q1-poll
* Samsung figures due on April 27
* Nokia sold 83 mln handsets in Q1
By Tarmo Virki
HELSINKI, April 12 (Reuters) – Korea’s Samsung Electronics
Co Ltd (005930.KS) ended Nokia Oyj’s (NOK1V.HE) 14-year
leadership of the global cellphone market in the first quarter
of the year, outselling the struggling Finnish handset maker for
the first time ever, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.
The poll showed analysts on average expect Samsung to have
sold 88 million cellphones in January through March, surpassing
the 83 million which Nokia sold in the quarter. [ID:nL6E8FC1CT]
Nokia had announced the sales total on Wednesday when it
warned of losses from the phones business in the first and
second quarter. Samsung is due to release quarterly numbers on
April 27. [ID:nL6E8FB07U]
Nokia has struggled for several years in the smartphone
race, but its dominance in the lower end of the market has
allowed it to keep its rank as the world’s largest cellphone
maker by volume.
The fall of the Finnish firm has been rapid over the last
few months as in a similar poll in January it was still expected
to stay far ahead of Samsung. [ID:nLDE80H01C]
“After 14 years as the largest global mobile phone maker,
getting knocked off the top spot will come as a bitter blow to
Nokia,” said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight, who has
followed the industry since the 1990s.
“In contrast it will be greeted with euphoria by Samsung -
they’ll be dancing from the boardroom to the factory floor,”
Wood said.
Nokia became the world’s largest cellphone maker 1998 when
it overtook Motorola (MMI.N) – at a time when Samsung had just
entered the industry – and it controlled around 40 percent of
the market for years before Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iPhone was
unveiled in 2007, launching the smartphone boom.
Some analysts said losing the top spot would be a blow to
Nokia, but would have little impact on its attempt to turn
around its fortunes.
“I think it will hurt them from a PR perspective, but in
reality it does not change anything: at the end of the day the
problems are the same if they remain the No 1 or become the No
2,” said analyst Carolina Milanesi at Gartner.
(Editing by David Holmes)
((tarmo.virki@thomsonreuters.com)(+358 40840 6235))
Keywords: CELLPHONES/POLL
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