Samsung surpasses Apple in smartphones, upbeat on Q4

SEOUL (REUTERS) - Samsung Electronics Co surpassed Apple Inc as the world's top smartphone maker with more than 40 per cent shipment growth, and forecast strong sales in the fourth quarter, as it aims to consolidate its lead against rivals.

Samsung, which had little traction in the booming smartphone market until early last year, has since staged a strong comeback and reported a record profit from handset sales in the third quarter on Friday.

'Looking ahead into the fourth quarter - when industry demand is traditionally at its peak - Samsung expects sales of mobile devices to remain strong and flat panel TV shipments to increase,' Samsung said in its earnings statement.

Profits from the telecoms division more than doubled from a year ago to 2.5 trillion won (S$2.78 billion) and accounted for 60 per cent of the total profit, mitigating a sharp plunge in earnings from its bread-and-butter memory chips.