A poll among analysts, conducted by Reuters, claimed that Samsung has sold 50 million smartphones during the second quarter of 2012 (April to June) and the company will sell the highest volume of devices from any single manufacturer. Apple, according to the same poll, has sold over 30 million iPhones.

According to the poll, 41 analysts indicated that the May 29 launch of the Galaxy S3 "created a clear gap" between Samsung and Apple. The device registered 10 million pre-orders and the phone has been praised for its strong feature set and performance.

Apple hasn't launched a new version of the iPhone since the iPhone 4 S in 2011; however, the company is expected to unveil the iPhone 5 during late Q3 2012/early Q4 2012. To many it's seen as an important moment for Apple as the iPhone's UI begins to look stale compared to the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean - the latest version of Android.

IDC analyst Francisco jeronimo averred that "Samsung is expected to be the smartphone hero in the second quarter.vWe are also expecting to see the biggest smartphone volumes ever shipped from one single vendor in one quarter, driven by strong demand of the Galaxy portfolio, particularly the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy S III". The Galaxy S2 has sold approximately 20 million devices.

Earlier in 2012, notably, Nokia lost its status as the numero uno smartphone maker worldwide to Samsung. Experts see this as a sign of the former's lagging performance as it entered into a partnership with Microsoft to build Windows Phone devices. In the process, Nokia's own operating systems, including Symbian and Meego, were effectively abandoned. Only the Nokia N9 was launched with Meego.

Reuters also reported that Samsung is estimated to have sold 15.7 million "more" phones than Nokia during Q2 2012. According to research firm Gartner, 3.4 million more phones were sold in Q1.

Recent news indicated that Samsung could sell 40 million devices in 2012 as the company reportedly moved 6.5 million devices since the May 29 launch. Despite not running the stock Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich experience, the phone has been labeled an iPhone killer and rivals Google's Galaxy Nexus - built in cooperation with Samsung - as a flagship Android device.

Whether the Galaxy S3's success can continue after the launch of the iPhone 5 remains to be seen.