Samsung certain to overtake Apple in 1Q smartphone sales

Expectations for record quarterly earnings are rising for Samsung Electronics with a recent report indicating that the firm has beaten its rival Apple Inc. in global smartphone sales for the first quarter.

Global investment bank Canaccord Genuity‘s technology analyst Michael Walkley said in a report released Tuesday that he sees Samsung selling 41 million smartphones from January-March, outperforming Apple‘s 32.6 million and Nokia‘s 12.5 million.

Raising his yearly estimate for smartphones to 723 million units from 695 million units, Apple and Samsung were projected to further consolidate their profits in the first quarter, according to Walkley.