IDC crowns Samsung the biggest phone maker by shipments for Q1 2012

Research firm IDC is reporting that Nokia has been dethroned as the world's biggest phone maker by Samsung. In the first quarter of the year, Samsung shipped 98.3 million mobile phones, with Nokia and Apple in second and third place. In the smartphone-only charts, the Korean company shipped 42.2 million of its Android and Windows Phone handsets, while Cupertino shipped 35.1 million and Nokia shipped a paltry-by-comparison 11.9 million.

Samsung, Apple and companies outside the top 5 all made big gains in the smartphone space, while Nokia, RIM and HTC all felt their numbers drop. Companies with big stakes in dumb phones suffered, with Nokia and LG losing big chunks of their market share to the big two and stalking horse ZTE, which has bested LG for fourth place.