Apple concedes top smartphone vendor title to Samsung

Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones last quarter, nearly doubling the amount of handsets it sold in the same three month period a year ago. But despite its record-breaking performance, the company still conceded its top smartphone vendor title to Samsung.

During the holiday quarter, Apple shipped 37.1 million handsets — the most out of any of the other smartphone manufacturers in the world. And it looked like it was set to do it again this time around, but the Korean handset-maker edged it out…

Selling a staggering 42.2 million smartphones, Samsung reclaimed its spot at the top. And even though its handsets sport a mix of several different operating systems (Windows Phone, Android, etc.) you can’t help but be impressed by the numbers.

To put this in perspective, Nokia came in third place (behind Samsung, Apple) with just 11.9 million smartphones shipped. Remember that this is that the same company that, a year ago, led the pack with 24.2 million units shipped. Yikes.

RIM came in fourth place with 9.7 million smartphones shipped. And HTC continued its skid, coming in last place with just 6.9 million. The sad part is that Apple shipped more smartphones than Nokia, RIM and HTC combined.

But the quarter belongs to Samsung. The June period, however, is anyone’s game. The iPhone is making its way into mainland China — which is home to over 1 billion cell phone users, and Samsung is launching a new flagship handset next month.

[IDC via Cult of Android]