Samsung has cemented its place as the world's leading smartphone seller, taking up almost a third of the market share, after setting a record for the most unitsshipped in the third quarter.
The company sold 56.3 million smartphones, including its flagship Galaxy S III, in July-September, representing 31.3 percent of the global market, more than twice as much as bitter rival Apple's share 15 percent, research firm IDC said.
Galaxy S III shipments have been estimated at 18 million units for the period, while Apple sold 26.9 million iPhones.
However, while the Korean giant shifted six million more phones than in the second quarter its market share is slightly down from 32.6 percent in the previous three months, while Apple's is down from 16.9 percent.
In third place is Canadian BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, which had 4.3 percent of the global share, while China's ZTE was fourth on 4.2 percent and Taiwan's HTC had 4.0 percent.
The figures come as Samsung, the world's largest technology firm by revenue, said Friday its net profit almost doubled to a record 6.6 trillion won ($5.97 billion) in the third quarter, boosted by strong smartphone sales.
Samsung was dealt a blow in late August when a US court ruled that it infringed some of Apple's design and software patents and fined it more than $1 billion. Samsung has appealed against the ruling. - AFP
* Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report