Microsoft's strategic partnership with Nokia may have been motivated by the sheer size of the company's operations, but projections almost universally point to the Finnish firm losing share in the years to come.

Analysts at Nomura believe Nokia's fall from grace may come around quicker than expected, however, with the firm issuing a research note suggesting Nokia will lose its position at the top of the smartphone tree during the current quarter.

Down and out?

In fact, Nokia will soon be surpassed by both Samsung and Apple to become the world's third largest smartphone manufacturer.

"Nokia looks set to relinquish its smartphone crown to Samsung and Apple," Nomura analysts said in the note.

"Further emphasising the shift in power to Asia is our forecast for HTC to almost match Nokia during 2012."

Moving beyond the current year, however, many analysts point to Nokia bouncing back when the firm switches to Windows Phone, with Microsoft's OS expected to become the second largest smartphone platform on the planet by 2015 according to IDC.

[source: Reuters]