Samsung overtakes Apple as global smartphone leader
Smartphone shipments show four-fold year-on-year increase in Q3
Samsung has overtaken Apple as the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world.
According to research firm Strategy Analytics, reported by Bloomberg, the South Korean company shipped 27.8 million smartphones in the third quarter - almost four times its shipments in the same quarter last year.
Samsung's telecommunications division doubled its year-on-year sales to $2.2 billion, which is around 60 per cent of the company's total revenue.
By contrast, sales of the iPhone fell by 16 per cent to 17.1 million units in the third quarter, giving Samsung a 23. 8 per cent share of the smartphone market.
Samsung and Apple are currently engaged in a string of patent disputes in a number of global territories, principally over similarities between the iPad and Samsung's Galaxy tablet.