Some analysts reckon that it sold more smartphones – 44.5m – in the first three months of the year than Apple’s 35.1m for its iPhoneSamsung appears to have become the earth’s largest mobile telephone manufacturer, passing Finland’s Nokia, top since 1998, as Samsung Electronics reported record first-quarter results.Though the corporation did not reveal precise numbers, some analysts reckon that it sold more smartphones – 44.5m – in the first three months of the year than Apple’s 35.1m for its iPhone. Overall, they calculated that it shipped 93.5m mobile phones, compared with 82.7m for Nokia.Samsung’s estimated total gave it a 30.6% share of the smartphone market. Apple’s sales gave it a 24.1% share.”Samsung and Apple are outside-competing most major rivals, and the smartphone market is at risk of becoming a two-horse race,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics.Net profit nearly doubled from a year earlier to a record 5.05tn won (£2.75bn) for the quarter to 31 March. Operating profit also hit a record high, at 5.85tn won, which was in border with expectations. Sales rose 22% from a year earlier to 45.3tn won. Shares in the corporation jumped by 3%. More than 70% of its operating profit came from the mobile business, which saw a surge in sales of its Galaxy smartphones.However Nokia, which has slipped from top place in both mobile phones and smartphones after being passed by both Apple and Samsung, saw its debt marked down a notch by ratings agency Fitch, to BB+ from BBB-. The agency warned that further downgrades could follow.At the end week Nokia announced one of its worst quarterly results ever, blaming tough competition for a €929m net loss as sales plunged, exceptionally in the smartphone market. It said it expects no improvement in the second quarter.Analysts could not assent on how many smartphones Samsung shipped since the corporation only gave relative numbers for revenue and profit compared to the year-ago quarter. Research corporation IHS Suppli catalogues the Samsung Galaxy Notice, with a 5in screen, as a tablet rather than a telephone, lowering the total smartphone numbers below Apple’s.Samsung’s mobile communications division, which makes smartphones and a range of tablets, generated 4.27tn won of operating profit in the quarter after seeing significant sales growth of high-end smartphones in developing markets including China, a key battlefield for mobile telephone makers.However Apple’s iPhone and iPad business remains more lucrative. The Cupertino, California-based corporation earned $11.6bn (£7.2bn) in the January-March quarter, more than twice as much as Samsung, much though its revenue was about 10% less.SamsungComputingTablet computersSmartphonesAppleMobile phonesiPhoneTelecomsNokiaTelecommunications industryCharles Arthurguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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