Samsung Electronics Co., who has successfully fended off its biggest rival Apple Inc. in the global smartphone market, also recovered its top position in North America in the second quarter of this year.

According to data from global market research firm Strategy Analytics (SA) on Thursday, Samsung Electronics’ smartphone shipments to North America reached 14 million units during the second quarter ended June, commanding the biggest share of 33.3 percent in the North American smartphone market.

Samsung’s share in the market gained 8.4 percentage points from a quarter-ago period and 3.6 percentage points a year-ago period. The Korean tech giant’s market share in the North American market surpassed 30 percent for the first time in 12 quarters since the second quarter of 2014.

With the latest shipment results, the Korean smartphone giant that lost its ground to Apple in the second quarter of 2016 also snatched back the crown from Apple with a 24 percent share. The archrival to Samsung has lost 8.7 percentage points from a quarter earlier after selling 10.1 million units at home.

Samsung succeeded in regaining the top spot after its flagship Galaxy S8 series have been received well since its launch early this year, seemingly overcoming last year’s Galaxy Note debacle. Apple has not yet released its new models and eyes are on whether Apple commemorating the 10 anniversary of the iPhone launch would defeat Samsung again with its much-hyped new iPhone model due to be out next month.

Another Korean smartphone maker LG Electronics came third in the North American market with a market share of 17.1 percent after delivering 7.2 million units, according to SA data. Its share slipped 3.1 percentage points from the previous quarter when it enjoyed a rise in sales of its new flagship G6 series.

The combined share of two Korean companies, Samsung and LG, in North America reached 50.4 percent in the second quarter. Their total share accounted for more than half in the market in the second quarter of 2013 and 2014.

The Chinese maker ZTE ranked fourth with an 11.5 percent market share, and Motorola fifth with 4.8 percent.

By Lee Dong-in

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