Samsung is the top WW smartphone vendor for Q3 2011 according to Strategy Analytics, beating Apple from a units-shipped standpoint and claiming 23.8% market share.
Global smartphone shipments are on the rise in general-- reaching 117M units and growing by 44.4% Y-o-Y (slower growth compared to Q3 2010, when the market saw 86.5% Y-o-Y growth).
Samsung shipments total 27.8M units in Q3 2011, while Apple ships 17.1M units and slips in market share (from 17.4% in Q3 2010 to 14.6%) and growth (21% Y-o-Y, the lowest in 2 years according to Strategy Analytics).
The analyst attributes the Samsung growth to "a blend of elegant hardware designs, popular Android services, memorable sub-brands and extensive global distribution."
Nokia comes in 3rd place, with 14.4% market share (down from 32.7% a year earlier) and shipments reaching 16.8M units. Strategy Analytics says the newly announced Lumia portfolio should help raise the company's profile while driving "at least an L-shaped recovery in its global smartphone market share over the next few months."
