Samsung top mobile-phone vendor

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's No. 2 handset maker, was the biggest mobile-phone vendor in three out of six regions in the third quarter, including Western Europe, a market report showed Wednesday. The report released by Strategy Analytics also noted that Samsung is closely competing with Nokia Corp., the world's top handset maker, for global dominance as the Finnish firm lost ground in America and Western Europe. Samsung shipped 89.5 million handsets worldwide in the July-September period, up 25 percent from a year earlier, while Nokia posted a flat on-year growth with 106.6 million handset shipments, it said. Samsung clinched a 30 percent market share in North America in the three-month period, 38.1 percent in Western Europe and 25.6 percent in Central and Latin America, the market research firm said. The Korean firm's lead over its Finnish rival was particularly large in North America and Western Europe where Nokia posted 1.5 percent and 19.5 percent share, respectively. The market researcher said Samsung's rise was driven by robust demand for its Galaxy lines of mobile devices and full-touch cell phones. Nokia, however, was a dominant mobile vendor in Asia Pacific region, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa Middle East. The Strategy Analytics report dubbed Samsung the "king of developed markets" while Nokia was called the "king of emerging markets." Samsung Electronics is forecast to face tougher competition from Apple Inc. and HTC Corp. in the high-end handset segment and from Nokia in the lower tiers, the research firm said. LG Electronics Inc. retained its No. 3 position in the global handset market in the third quarter, but its handset volume sales fell 26 percent on-year to 21.1 million units. Global handset shipments grew 15 percent annually to 392 million units in the third quarter, the report said, mostly driven by steep growth in demand across emerging markets.