Samsung widens lead over Apple in smartphone market, according to Reuters poll

Apple and Samsung have sold similar numbers of smartphones in recent quarters, but Samsung is expected to emerge as the clear leader in global sales following the year’s second quarter, according to Reuters, which polled 41 industry analysts. Thanks to sales of its Galaxy S3 handset, the analysts said, Samsung is expected to have sold 50 million smartphones in the quarter. Apple, by contrast, is thought to have sold 30.5 million iPhones.

“Samsung is expected to be the smartphone hero in the second quarter,” said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo. “We are also expecting to see the biggest smartphone volumes ever shipped from one single vender in one quarter, driven by strong demand of the Galaxy portfolio, particularly the Galaxy S II and S III,” he added.

Samsung replaced 14-year titleholder Nokia as the world’s biggest mobile phone vender in the first quarter, when it outsold Nokia by 3.4 million phones. Samsung is expected to have stretched its lead to 15.7 million phones in the second quarter.