Samsung Electronics is confident it will become the world's largest mobile phone maker in 2012, ending Nokia's 14-year reign. Samsung already became the world's largest smartphone maker in Q3 last year. Samsung chief executive Choi Gee-sung told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the company overtook Nokia in revenue terms in its latest reported quarter and was confident of topping the Finnish group in shipments this year, Reuters reports. However analysts expect that Samsung may be too optimistic. According to the latest analyst polls by Reuters, Nokia was expected to sell 418 million phones in 2011, versus Samsung's 320 million, while the gap should narrow this year to 388 million versus 359 million. Samsung said in early December its 2011 handset sales reached 300 million handsets for the first time, mainly led by strong demand for its Galaxy smartphones. Choi also said Samsung was likely to meet its 2015 sales target ahead of schedule and plans to increase investment this year.
