Samsung lead world's top cell phone maker

South Korea's Samsung Electronics lead the world's largest mobile phone maker, overtaking Finland's Nokia, which dominated the market for 14 years.US research firm Strategy Analytics on Friday released the numbers of cell phone shipments between January and March by leading global makers.

Samsung was at the top with 93.5 million handsets, up 36 percent from the same quarter last year, on the back of brisk sales of its smart phone models.Nokia came in second with 82.7 million units, down 24 percent. This marks the end of Nokia's reign in the global mobile phone market since 1998.

US computer giant Apple came 3rd, with its quarterly shipment nearly doubling from last year to 35.1 million handsets. Cell phone users are increasingly switching to smart phones, sparking severe competition between Samsung and Apple.

Nokia is trying to turn around its business by tying up with Microsoft in the smart phone business, but has so far failed to stop its sales decline.