Samsung increases market lead over Apple while Nokia slips further behind

Symbian devices still outselling Windows Phone

Samsung has extended its position as the larger mobile phone vendor on the planet, pulling away from rivals Apple, Nokia and Research in Motion (RIM), while Symbian phone are still outselling Windows Phone devices.

Figures from Gartner showed that the South Korean firm has a market share of 22.9 percent as of the third quarter of 2012, up from 18.7 percent in the same period last year. This came on the back of increased sales of 97 million devices, up from 82 million.

Samsung extended its lead over Apple, although the iPhone maker also saw growth over the two periods, with sales rising from 17 million in Q3 2011 to 23 million in 2012, as its market share increased by 1.6 percent to 5.5 percent.

"Samsung really delivered an outstanding performance as its entire portfolio performs well in both the high-end of the market and in more emerging markets," Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner told V3.

"Apple had issues in this quarter as it only launch its iPhone 5 device at the end, so expect to see them grow back in the coming quarter, but Samsung is very well placed now."

However, while the two leaders saw their grip at the top of the market strengthen, other vendors were not so successful.

Nokia's market share slipped by 4.9 percent to 19.2 percent of the market, while sales declined from 105 million to 82 million, costing it top spot.

"Nokia's new Lumia devices should give the firm a boost in 2013, although it won't be until the second half of 2013 that we see strong evidence for this," added Gupta.

Samsung increases market lead over Apple while Nokia slips further behind

Symbian devices still outselling Windows Phone

RIM also saw its market share dwindle, from 2.9 percent to just two percent, with sales declining by around four million to 8.9 million in the third quarter of 2012.

"The ecosystem for RIM is not quite there and that is one of the main criteria when people buy a smartphone so it will be a challenge to entice people to switch from Android or iOS," Gupta commented.

"In emerging markets they do not have enough affordable device that deliver in terms of user experience, especially when compared to Android. How quickly they can drive down prices of BB10 devices for emerging marketing could well decide their fate."

Interestingly, Gartner's figures also showed that while sales of Windows Phone devices increased over the two periods, from 1.7 million to 4.05 million, Symbian sales, while down dramatically from 19 million in Q3, 2011, were still above Windows Phone, at 4.4 million.

This will no doubt change in the coming weeks as Windows Phone 8 devices hit the market, but it still underlines the extent of the challenge facing Microsoft and vendors throwing their weight behind the platform including Nokia, HTC and Samsung.

Overall, Android remains by far and away the market favourite, with its market share rising from 52.5 percent to 72.4 percent, resulting in sales of 122 million in Q3. Apple's iOS was second with 23 million sales.

The huge growth for the like of Samsung and Apple meant smartphones sales rose by 46.9 percent year on year to 169 million units.

However, declining sales of feature phones meant overall mobile phone sales actually dropped from 441 million to 427 million.