Apple became the world's largest phone vendor by revenue in January-March, overtaking Nokia for the first time ever, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Thursday.

With strong volumes and high wholesale prices, the PC vendor has successfully captured revenue leadership of the total handset market in less than four years, said analyst Alex Spektor.

Apple's revenues from iPhone rose to $11.9 billion in the last quarter, while Nokia's phone revenues slipped to $9.4 billion, the research firm said.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki)

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