A report by research company IDC has revealed a trend that is seeing Apple and Samsung grow in dominance in the mobile market while their competitors such as Nokia, RIM, Motorola, and HTC struggle to achieve profitability.

The report detailed how in the first quarter of 2012 both Apple and Samsung had a combined 53.3 per cent of the market, a figure that sees them move past a 50 per cent share for the first time.  This is, in part because smartphones now represent 37 per cent of sales within the mobile phone market.

A senior research analyst for IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker Programme, Kevin Restivo, said of the results, “The halcyon days of rapid growth in the smartphone market have been good to Samsung.  Samsung has used its established relationships with carriers in a mix of economically diverse markets to gain share organically and at the expense of former high fliers such as Nokia.”

With Chinese companies such as ZTE seeing increased sale in the first quarter of this year, companies such as Nokia and HTC are expected to be placed under even greater pressure. With Huawei increasing their production of a low-cost Android-based device, that pressure shows no sign of letting up any time soon.  While both Samsung and Apple are expected to maintain successfully their sales in China, it is believed that Nokia and HTC could both be in trouble.