Samsung has overtaken Apple to become the world's leading smartphone seller, new figures suggest.

Research by Gartner found that 38 million Samsung smartphones were sold worldwide in the first three months of 2012.

The manufacturer also replaced Nokia as the top handset seller, with total sales surging by more than 25 percent to reach 86.6 million units.

However, the figures show an overall decline in global mobile sales, the first time the market has suffered a dip since the second quarter of 2009.

Sales fell to 419.1 million in the first quarter of 2012, down two percent compared with the same period in 2011.

Gartner said the bigger-than-expected fall in sales was driven by a slowdown in consumer demand from the Asia/Pacific region.

The group's principal research analyst Anshul Gupta said: "The first quarter, traditionally the strongest quarter for Asia - which is driven by Chinese New Year, saw a lack of new product launches from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better smartphone deals arriving later in the year."

Analyst Annette Zimmermann added: "The lower results in the first quarter of 2012 have led us to be cautious about sales for the remainder of the year."