Galaxy S3 claims top spot in smartphones worldwide

But the Samsung phone's third-quarter glory is "likely to be short-lived," says Strategy Analytics, as Apple reasserts itself with a full fourth quarter of iPhone 5 sales.

The latest statistics from research firm Strategy Analytics peg Samsung's Galaxy S3 as the world's most popular smartphone model, holding 10.7 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter.

According to the research firm, Apple's iPhone 4S was relegated to a close second place with 9.7 percent of the market after two years at the top of the list, while the iPhone 5 held just 3.6 percent of the global share.

According to the figures, Samsung shipped 18 million Galaxy S3 units in the third quarter, up from 5.4 million in the second quarter, an increase of 230 percent.

Apple, meanwhile, shipped 16.2 million iPhone 4S handsets during the third quarter, down from 19.4 million in the second quarter, a decrease of 16 percent.

Apple also shipped 6 million iPhone 5 handsets during the third quarter since its launch in September. That said, Apple said on September 24 that it sold 5 million iPhone 5 handsets in the first weekend alone, but as the third quarter typically ends on September 30, it tallies up with the research firm's estimates.

Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston said in prepared remarks: "Samsung's Galaxy S3 has proven wildly popular with consumers and operators across North America, Europe and Asia."

He noted, however that while Samsung grabbed the smartphone share crown from Apple for the third quarter, the Korean smartphone maker will likely have to give it back in the run up to the December holiday season.

"The Galaxy S3's position as the world's best-selling smartphone model is likely to be short-lived. The Apple iPhone 5 has gotten off to a solid start already with an estimated 6.0 million units shipped globally during Q3 2012. 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 model."

Strong sales of the Galaxy S3 helped Samsung post a record third-quarter operating profit of $7.4 billion during the July-September months.

Android Rules the Smartphone World

Its low cost and flexibility make the Android mobile platform so popular around the world. "The Android system will continue to grow because it's the closest thing we have to an effective open source platform," said Tirias Research principal analyst Jim McGregor. "Android is being used in many other applications just to leverage the mobile ecosystem."

Android dominates the worldwide smartphone market, running on 75 percent of all smartphones shipped throughout the globe in the third quarter, IDC reported.

Samsung continued to hold sway over the Android market, but its market share slipped because of competition from a multitude of smaller vendors.

Apple's iOS came in a poor second, shipping on 26.9 million smartphones in Q3 2012. That gave iOS a 14.9 percent market share for the quarter.

Google's Runaway Mobile OS

Total Android smartphone shipments grew 91.5 percent in the past year, IDC reported. That's nearly twice the overall market growth rate of 46.4 percent.

In all, 136 million of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped worldwide in Q3 2012 ran Android.

More Android smartphones were shipped in Q3 2012 than the total number of smartphones shipped in all of 2007, the year Android was first offered.

"The reasons Android's so strong are obvious -- it has tons of vendors ranging from the really huge to the really tiny, there is no licensing fee, so vendors can put as much or as little money as they want into development, and you have models ranging from entry-level to the high end where you pay US$600 to $700," Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC, told the E-Commerce Times.

"More phones are coming out on Android than any other OS, especially in the lower cost segments," Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research, told the E-Commerce Times.

For example, Chinese vendor ZTE, which, along with compatriot Huawei was declared a possible national security risk in the United States, has become one of the top five smartphone vendors globally, primarily because of a surge in sales of lower-cost devices in emerging markets, IDC said.

No Strategy Change

The advent of Windows Phone 8 will see "a few more smartphone vendors taking Windows Phone 8 more seriously" but is not likely to lead them to change their strategy going forward, at least for now, IDC's Llamas suggested.

"The Android system will continue to grow because it's the closest thing we have to an effective open source platform," McGregor continued. "Android is being used in many other applications just to leverage the mobile ecosystem."

Samsung's Still the Android 800-Pound Gorilla

Samsung continued to lead the worldwide smartphone market, with more than 31 percent of worldwide market share, according to another IDC report. This is the first time a single company has held that much of the market in a single quarter since Q4 2009, IDC said.

The Korean company's shipments were more than twice that of archrival Apple's for Q3 2012.

Samsung's growth was fueled mainly by its broad, deep and refreshed Android portfolio, beginning with its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone and continuing through multiple mid-range and mass-market models.

The Galaxy S III has sold 30 million units, Samsung claims.

Meanwhile, another report, this one by Comscore, shows Samsung increasing its penetration in the U.S. market slightly between July and September, from 25.6 percent to 26 percent. LG came in second with 17.7 percent and Apple third with 17.5 percent, although Apple chalked up a 2.1 percent growth in market share during that period.

Is iOS Hurting?

Smartphones running iOS increased their market share by only one percent year over year, although shipments went up 57 percent year over year.

Reconciling that with the consumer frenzy surrounding Apple's iPhone launches is difficult, but the overall smartphone market has grown.

Further, statistics for market share and shipments "measure volume, not revenue or profit, and Apple constrains the supply of iPhones so they ... can keep prices up," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told the E-Commerce Times.

The shipment figures "represent what's sold to stores, not to consumers, so a lot of Android phones may go unsold or be sold at steep discounts to get rid of excess inventory," Enderle continued.