Samsung sold a record 88.4 million smartphones between July and September, increasing its quarterly smartphone shipments by a staggering 55 percent year-on-year, according to the latest data released by Strategy Analytics on Tuesday.

In its global market survey, the international research group said the South Korean electronics group was able to boost its market share from 32.9 percent to 35.2 percent over the period, mainly to the detriment of its US rival Apple.

Despite a spike by 26 percent to 33.8 million units, Apple's slice of the embattled smartphone market dropped from 15.6 percent in the third quarter last year to 13.4 percent now. This was because Apple had failed to keep pace with the strong overall growth in the industry, Strategy Analytics said.

The group's data showed that global smartphone shipments grew 45 percent annually from 172.8 million units in the third quarter of 2012 to 251.4 million in the same period of 2013. This was the first time ever that smartphone sales exceeded a quarter billion units in a single three-month period.

Star performer in terms of growth was China's manufacturer Huawei, which increased shipments 67 percent to 12.7 million units in Q3. Huawei captured a market share of 5 percent, becoming the world's third largest smart phone vendor.

uhe/slk (Reuters, dpa, AFP)