We all know that Apple and Samsung are duking it out in the courts and in the marketplace, but recent news tends to shine a more favorable light on the South Korean giant than it does on Cupertino.
In the all-too-important U.S. arena, however, Apple escaped the fourth quarter of 2012 on top.
According to the research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple became the number one mobile phone maker in the United States for the first time ever, surpassing Samsung and claiming a record 34 percent of all phone sales.
Apple shipped about 17.7 million units, a significant increase over last year when the company shipped 12.8 million handsets in the same time frame. Last year it recorded 25 percent market share, meaning Apple's standing rose by nearly 10 percent.
"Apple's success has been driven by its popular ecosystem of iPhones and App Store, generous carrier subsidies, and extensive marketing around the new iPhone 5 model," said Strategy Analytics in its report.
Don't feel too bad for Samsung, though, because the company still grew by a noteworthy margin. Despite falling to second place, it sold 16.8 million smartphones, which was good for 32 percent of the market, just two points below Apple. That's a five percent increase for Samsung over last year, when it held 27 percent of all sales.
As the report notes, though, this is the first time since 2008 that Samsung isn't the market leader.
In third place was another South Korean company, LG. Although it couldn't come close to competing with the other two giants, LG shipped about 4.7 million phones and racked up 9 percent of the market. No other phone makers registered in the report, though it did state that just about 30 percent of all sales were "other" phones.
The news probably won't be enough to satisfy those who are sluggish on Apple, even though the data coincides with Tim Cook's statements that sales for iPhones and iPads have never been better. Many analysts think the company will need to diversify its line-up of phones - namely, it needs a cheaper one - to keep up with Samsung worldwide and in emerging markets like China. Clearly, though, it's doing pretty well in the United States.
