Analysts believe that Samsung has overtaken both Apple and Nokia in sales of its handsets during the second quarter of this year. If true, then this is a remarkable achievement for the Asian company and another blow to the troubled Finnish outfit.

Research by Strategy Analytics appears to show that Samsung sold in the region of 20 million handsets between the beginning of April and the end of March. Apple shipped 21 million smartphones, but it isn’t clear how many of these were sold. Nokia’s sales figures were dismal at just 16.7 million devices.

Strategy Analytics don’t include tablet devices in these figures, which certainly puts Samsung in a very strong position now as a major smartphone manufacturer. One commentator told knowyourmobile.com: “The estimates show Google Inc.’s Android is gaining ground on Apple in smartphones as Nokia, which is turning to Microsoft Corp. for software support, struggles to keep up with the pace.”

Without a doubt, Nokia is continuing to struggle with many former consumers now looking for alternative handset makers, particularly those offering more affordable budget type phones. Nokia was at one time known for offering reasonably priced devices, but broke the cardinal rule of not listening to what their customers were telling them they wanted from a smartphone.

This last point was reinforced last year when Nokia commissioned a survey asking its customers what they wanted to see in a Nokia phone. At the time, the vast majority wanted the company to use Android as the platform. Nokia rejected this, and did a deal earlier this year with Microsoft. Samsung however do use the Android operating system in the main.