Samsung becomes world's top handset vendor

SEOUL, S. KOREA: South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co overtook Nokia as the world's top handset maker for the first time in the first quarter, ending the Finnish firm's 14-year reign, a report by research firm Strategy Analytics showed on Friday.

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Samsung sold 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, taking 25.4 percent of the global mobile phone market, Strategy Analytics said.

Nokia sold 82.7 million phones and had 22.5 percent of the market, followed by Apple's 9.5 percent.

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