Samsung Electronics will become the world's largest smartphone maker this quarter, overtaking struggling Nokia which has lead the market since 1996, Nomura has said.

In the next quarter the analysts see Apple also overtaking Nokia, pushing the Finnish company to third in the rankings.

"Nokia looks set to relinquish its smartphone crown to Samsung and Apple," Nomura analysts said in a research note. "Further emphasising the shift in power to Asia is our forecast for HTC to almost match Nokia during 2012."

Research firms Gartner and Canalys both said they saw Nokia - which created the smartphone market with its 1996 launch of the Communicator model - losing smartphone volume leadership later this year.

"If Nokia's new phones are not well received in the third quarter and (with) the Galaxy S2 ramping up, Samsung might overtake them and become the smartphone leader in Q3," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

Nokia has lost initiative in the smartphone market to Apple's iPhone and Google Inc's Android devices, and at the lower end to more nimble Asian rivals.

Overall, Nokia still makes more mobile phones than Samsung due to its strong position in basic mobile phones and its wider distribution network in emerging countries.

The company is switching to Microsoft's software from its own Symbian platform as part of an overhaul of its phone business set out in February by new Chief Executive Stephen Elop.

On May 31stm Nokia abandoned hope of meeting key targets just weeks after setting them.

Reuters