Samsung became the world’s largest shipper of smartphones in it smost recent quarter, overtaking Apple Inc.

Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones between July and September, compared with 17.1 million for Apple and 16.8 million from Nokia, according to research from Strategy Analytics.

Apple’s growth was slowed in part by customers waiting for the launch of a new phone, which turned out to be the latest iPhone 4S, the firm said.

"In the handset division, Samsung has no real rival models to challenge its products except for the iPhone 4S. Apple and Samsung will continue to dominate the market in the fourth quarter," said Kim Hyun-joong, a fund manager at Midas Asset Management, which owns Samsung shares, according to Reuters.

In terms of all mobile phones, known as handsets, Nokia remained the top firm, taking 27.3 percent of the market share. Samsung had 22.6 percent and LG had 5.4 percent. China’s ZTE had 4.7 percent and Apple was in fifth place with 4.4 percent.