Samsung is the king of smartphones for the first quarter of 2012, based on the latest global sales data released on Thursday by Gartner.

The South Korean tech giant wrestled the crown from Apple, which assumed the post December 2011, as it accumulated total smartphone sales of about 38 million, which Gartner said roughly represents 43.9 per cent of Samsung's overall mobile phone sales for the period.

The Asian company again left behind former market leaders Nokia of Finland and BlackBerry's Canadian maker Research in Motion, which both clocked single-digit market shares in the quarter, the Gartner report said.

Almost the entire smartphone action in the world was gobbled up Apple and Samsung, which between them have clobbered more than 49 per cent of the lucrative market pie, painting a roller-coaster ride of competition picture between the two giants.

That should mean smartphone users all over the world would normally carry either an Apple or Samsung device on their hands at any given time.

And the same case is true in Asia, especially in China, where Apple and Samsung have been waging a fierce battle of convincing its vast numbers of mobile phone subscribers, said to number beyond 600 million to date, to buy the handsets they offer.

What's happening in Asia, according to Gartner research analyst Anshul Gupta, represent the current reality that "smartphone sales are becoming of paramount importance at a worldwide level."

All smartphone vendors pushed out more than 144 million units in the quarter, Gartner said, which for the market meant sales spikes of 44.7 per cent over the past 12 months.

For Apple, its first quarter push in China translated into sales growth of more than 96 per cent, which punctuated its ongoing efforts to reach more Chinese consumers in the quarters ahead.

Yet so far, the American firm's consistent surge in the continent has yet to contain the rise of its Asian nemesis, Samsung, which Gartner said sold a total of 86.6 million mobile handsets in the quarter that boosted its achievement by 25.9 per cent from the sales it posted in the same period last year.

Nokia, already dealing with reds on its balance sheets, was again toppled this quarter though it precariously retained its position as the number one market leader in overall sales with its shares of 25.1 per cent of the market.

Samsung was not too far behind, gradually climbing further high at its present seat of more than 16 per cent while Apple lags at a measly share of 3.9 per cent, mainly due to the company's sole iPhone product as against to the competition's wide-array of smartphone and feature phone offerings.

Samsung consistently crawled its way up amidst what Gartner called as a slight decline on overall mobile phone sales this year so far, which dipped by two per cent to 419.1 million.

The retreat was the first in the past two years, which Gartner attributed to consumers in the Asia-Pacific region probably holding off on their upgrade plans as they await the roll out of newer models, specifically coming from Samsung and Apple.

Samsung issued its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy SIII, this May and Apple reportedly plans a Q4 release for its new iPhone, which reports said would be deployed with major design and function overhauls.

According to Gartner analyst Annette Zimmermann, major releases from top manufacturers plus the planned products of regional players could spur further market growth for the remaining months of 2012.

"In addition, the arrival of new products in mature markets based on new versions of the Android and Windows Phone operating systems, and the launch of the Apple iPhone 5 will help drive a stronger second half in Western Europe and North America," Ms Zimmermann said in the report.

Gartner, however, has opted to play it cautious by forecasting "a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures in the range of 20 million units."