Samsung outsold both Apple and Nokia to sell the most mobile phones and smartphones during third quarter of 2012.
According to technology research firm Gartner, the South Korean conglomerate sold 98 million phones in Q3, subsequently gaining a 22.9 percent market share.
Samsung also sold the most smartphones during the quarter, spearheaded by the Galaxy S3, which recently surpassed the 30 million units sold milestone. The company sold an accumulative of 55 million smartphone units, while Apple sold 23.6 million iPhones. The Galaxy S3 itself was the top selling smartphone in the world in Q3.
Nokie outsold Apple, however, by boasting 82 million sales. In the smartphone market, though, the financially troubled company sold just 7.2 million devices.
About 16.2 million iPhone 4S units were shipped during the period, which is down from 19.4 million when compared to the second quarter. The handset's share of worldwide sales, meanwhile, dropped from 12.7 percent to 9.7 percent. As for the device's successor, the iPhone 5, Apple's latest smartphone shipped 6 million units, giving it a 3.6 percent share.
Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, stressed that while the Galaxy S3 has proven to be successful with consumers, operators in North America, Europe and Asia, and of course Samsung who generated record profits thanks to the device, its dominance will be threatened by the iPhone 5.
"The Apple iPhone 5 has gotten off to a solid start already,” he said. "We expect the new iPhone 5 to out-ship Samsung’s Galaxy S3 in the coming fourth quarter of 2012 and Apple should soon reclaim the title of the world’s most popular smartphone."
