Samsung edged out Apple over their rivalry on global smartphone sales as the South Korean firm shipped out 24 million units in total sales for the third quarter of the current year, roughly comprising of the record number of Android-powered handsets purchased by consumers during the period.

According to tech research firm Gartner, Android smartphone sales totalled to 60.5 million units as of the penultimate quarter of the year, rousingly eclipsing the numbers of Apple's iPhones that were sold as of September, which reached 17.3 million by the end of the month.

"Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems," the Gartner report was reported by Agence France Presse (AFP) as saying on Tuesday.

On the other hand, Apple's flagship smartphone obviously incurred the perceived delays that attended the anticipated release of iPhone 4S, which was also initially greeted with some form of discouragements by many tech observers, according to Gartner principal analyst Roberta Cozza.

"Apple's iOS market share suffered from delayed purchases as consumers waited for the new iPhone." Cozza added.

The biggest loser so far, according to the Gartner report, is Canadian firm Research in Motion, which saw its market share in the North American region dropping by at least 10 percent in the period, translating to mere 12.7 million units of quarterly sale.

"Continued pressure is impacting RIM's performance, and its smartphone share reached its lowest point so far in the US market," Cozza told AFP.

Apple's sales slide appeared so prominent that Nokia managed to secure the second spot in the smartphone segment as the Finnish firm reported sales of 19.5 million units that still bear the soon-to-be retired Symbian mobile OS, paving the way for the company's collaboration with Microsoft that will see the U.S.-based tech firm's Windows powering future releases of Nokia smartphones.

While the overall mobile handset industry has been harping about Nokia's consistent decline, the giant mobile phone maker actually led other global brands in selling the most number of handsets for the quarter as the company gobbled 23.9 percent of the overall market share though the numbers represent a slip from last year's 28.2 percent in the same quarter.

Not too far is Samsung with its market share of 17.8 percent while another South Korean tech firm, LG Electronics, occupied the third spot, with both Asian behemoths registering considerable climbs over the past 12 months in overall mobile phone sales.

Also, Apple increased its overall market share from 3.2 percent last year to 3.9 percent in the last quarter, Gartner said, paving the way for its continued rise in the market that saw more than 440 million units of total sales in the quarter, some 115 million units of which were smartphones that the Cupertino, California-based firm specialises.