Samsung posts record Q3 smartphone shipments

Samsung Electronics shipped a record 88.4 million smartphones in the third quarter to take its global market share above 35 percent, while rival Apple's slice thinned, research data showed Tuesday. Samsung's smartphone shipments in the July-September period marked a 55 percent surge over the same period last year, the independent research firm Strategy Analytics said. The South Korean tech company's market share swelled to 35.2 percent from 32.9 percent in the third quarter of 2012. Apple posted a 26 percent spike in shipments over the same period to 33.8 million units. But that failed to keep pace with the industry's overall 45 percent growth and the California company's market share dipped from 15.6 percent to 13.4 percent. Strategy Analytics said it expected Apple to make up last ground in the fourth quarter on high demand for its new iPhone 5s model. Apple reported a third consecutive quarterly decline in earnings on Monday, while Samsung last week posted a 26 percent increase in third-quarter net profit, bolstered by demand for smartphones and memory chips. The largest shipment growth in the third quarter was recorded by China's Huawei Technologies Co., which shipped 12.7 million units -- up 67 percent from a year ago.