Samsung, LG bolster presences in N. American smartphone market in Q1

South Korea's top two smartphone makers -- Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. -- saw their presences in the North American smartphone market rise, helped by robust sales of their flagship line-up and product mix, data showed on Monday.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top smartphone maker, held a 29 percent share in the region's smartphone market in the first quarter, up from the 27.7 percent the previous quarter, according to the data compiled by Strategy Analytics.

LG Electronics garnered a 9.4 percent stake in the North American market, a huge jump from 5.7 percent over the cited period, the data showed.

Their combined market share in the January-March period was 1 percentage point higher than Apple Inc.'s 37.4 percent share, they showed. Apple saw its first-quarter share in the region drop 7.1 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Motorola Mobility LLC, BlackBerry and ZTE followed suit, according to the data.

Meanwhile, Samsung rolled out its latest version of its flagship Galaxy smartphone line-up in the U.S. last month to take on Apple Inc.'s iPhone 5 and other rival smartphones.

LG Electronics is also set to launch the Optimus G Pro, the latest version of the Optimus G smartphone line-up, in the U.S. this week.

Earlier data showed that Samsung Electronics shipped a record 69.4 million smartphones around the globe in the first quarter, compared with 63 million in the previous quarter.

The South Korean smartphone maker also continued to dominate the global smartphone market in terms of market share, with its stake in the first three months of the year standing at 33.1 percent, slightly down from a record high of 33.9 percent in the third quarter of last year, according to the data.

LG Electronics sold a total of 10.3 million smartphones in the first quarter, doubling from 4.9 million units a year earlier, with its market share standing at 4.9 percent, the data showed. (Yonhap News)