Global smartphone shipments for 2011 will reach 462 million units and Apple is expected to overtake Nokia as the top ranking vendor in terms of shipment volume in 2011, according to DigiTimes Research (http://www.digitimes.com).

Apple’s smartphone shipments are projected to top 86.4 million units in 2011, up 82% from 47.5 million units in 2010. Nokia’s smartphone shipments in 2011 will decline to 74.4 million units from over 100 million in 2010, said Luke Lin, analyst for Digitimes Research.