Canalys: HTC claims U.S. smartphone crown in Q3

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC muscled past larger rivals Samsung and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to secure the top smartphone spot in the U.S. market in the third quarter, according to research firm Canalys.

According to Canalys, although Samsung claimed the global smartphone crown with 27.3 million smartphone shipments--in line with Strategy Analytics' estimate of 27.8 million--HTC was the star in the United States, the world's largest smartphone market. HTC shipped 5.7 million smartphones under its brand in the quarter, as well as 70,000 under T-Mobile USA's brand, according to Canalys, which represents around 43 percent of the company's 13.2 million smartphones shipped in the quarter. 

"This is an awesome achievement for HTC, which has built a premium brand in a highly competitive market in just a few short years," Canalys analyst Chris Jones said in a statement. "It now has a strong range of 4G Android products, with devices ranged by each of the major carriers, and offers some of the most compelling and differentiated products found on the platform today."

Samsung came in second in the U.S. market with shipments of 4.9 million smartphones, followed by Apple with 4.6 million. Jones noted that even though Apple's results were lower due to customers holding back in anticipation of the iPhone 4S, Apple is likely to have a considerably stronger fourth quarter--the company sold 4 million iPhone 4S units in its first weekend of availability.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) continues to struggle in the U.S. market, according to Canalys. RIM's shipment volumes declined 58 percent from the year-ago period and its U.S. market share slipped from 24 percent in the third quarter of 2010 to just 9 percent in the third quarter this year, according to Canalys. RIM has been counting on its refreshed BlackBerry 7 line to carry it through until it releases new smartphones running QNX software early next year.

For more:
- see this release
- see this Forbes article

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