BEIJING, April 23 -- Nokia Oyj, the world's largest mobile-phone maker, and Samsung Electronics Co have taken handset market share from Motorola Inc.

    Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, controlled 36.2 percent of the global market in the first quarter, Bloomberg News reported. This was up from 33.2 percent a year earlier and 35.7 percent in the previous quarter, researcher Strategy Analytics Ltd said in a statement on Friday.

    Samsung, the third-largest handset maker, increased its share to 13.8 percent from 12.6 percent a year earlier and 10.8 percent sequentially.

    The gap between Nokia and closest rival Motorola widened to its largest in more than three years as the Illinois-based company failed to unveil devices with more features to replace the best-selling Razr.

    Global shipments gained 12 percent, the slowest in almost two years, as excess inventory was sold off in the quarter.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)