San Francisco, Nov 1 (IANS): Capitalising on the collapse of LG, Samsung has grabbed the top position in the smartphone market in North America in the third quarter (Q3), and nearly two in five smartphone shipments were from Samsung in the region.

According to the latest research from market research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung grabbed 38 per cent market share, while Apple was second at 37 per cent share.

"Samsung is the leading smartphone vendor in North America, with annual shipment growth of 5 per cent," said Ken Hyers, Director at Strategy Analytics.

"Samsung has clawed back share following three quarters when it was topped by Apple. Samsung has capitalized on the collapse of LG, which in the year-ago quarter held a 14 per cent share in the North American region but has shuttered operations from Q3 2021," he said in a statement on Sunday.

The combination of leading technology and a broad product portfolio have made Samsung smartphones, such as its premium Galaxy S21 series and affordable A-series the most popular Android devices in the region.

Apple's newly-introduced iPhone 13 5G smartphones drove a late Q3 2021 surge in shipments, which along with its older iPhone 12 models drove positive annual growth of 9 percent annually in the 3rd quarter of 2021.

"Apple's growth would have been even stronger were it not for component shortages and manufacturing disruption in Asia that limited its ability to meet demand for its new iPhone 13 series smartphones," said Linda Sui, Senior Director at Strategy Analytics.

The top-5 smartphone vendors by shipments for the region captured 93 per cent of total shipments to the region.

North American smartphone shipments were down 7 percent annually in the third quarter of 2021.

Samsung also faced shortages that limited its ability to meet strong customer demand.

"Samsung's newest foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Flip3 and Fold3 were very strong sellers for the company," said Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics.