Samsung is becoming a bigger and better brand every day. With each new release of a device, the brand name continues to spread, and it has now spread so far that it has overtaken the previous leader, Nokia, who had been positioned there for more than 10 years. Samsung had previously been in second place, for 2011.

This data is based upon worldwide shipments and iSuppli suggests that Samsung will account for 29 percent of the mobile phone market in 2012. Nokia will make up 24 percent, down from 30 percent in 2011. Nokia had been in the number one slot since 1998, the first year it occupied the top slot for the entire year.

"The competitive reality of the cellphone market in 2012 was 'live by the smartphone; die by the smartphone,'" said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS. "Smartphones represent the fastest-growing segment of the cellphone market-and will account for nearly half of all wireless handset shipments for all of 2012. Samsung's successes and Nokia's struggles in the cellphone market this year were determined entirely by the two companies' divergent fortunes in the smartphone sector."