iPhone 5 should narrow the gap According to data from mobile analyst firm Juniper Research, Samsung has taken a sizeable lead in the smartphone market in terms of unit shipments. In the second quarter of 2012, the company estimates Samsung shipped 52.1 million smartphones, just over double the number shipped by its arch-rival, Apple who are estimated to have shipped 26 million units. Samsung has also doubled its lead over Apple quarter-on-quarter, with its flagship Galaxy S3 playing a key role, having achieved sales of 10 million in June. Juniper also believes that Sony has very strong potential in the smartphone market with Daniel Ashdown, Research Analyst at Juniper Research noting: Sony should be doing better: it, like Samsung, has a global name and the Xperia brand is well-established but its marketing and products have been disappointing so far. With Apple to inevitably release the iPhone 5 later in the year, the gap is expected to close but the future's looking good for Samsung's mobile efforts.