South Korean mobile phone giants Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. retained their leading positions in the North American market for a 12th straight quarter in the April-June period, an industry report showed Friday.

Samsung, the world’s second-largest cellphone maker, sold 13.8 million units of mobile devices in the United States and Canada in the second quarter, extending its dominance for 12 straight quarters, according to the report by market research firm Strategy Analytics. But the company’s market share stood at 28.2 percent during those three months, down from 29.5 percent a year ago, according to the data.

LG, the No. 3 global player. trailed Samsung with 9.3 million unit sales in the three-month stretch, up 1.5 million units from the previous three months. The company posted the biggest on-quarter growth among mobile vendors, according to the market research firm.

It raised its market share to 19 percent in the quarter and widened the gap with Apple Inc., which claimed 12.9 percent.

Apple, which jumped to the market’s third-largest player from the fifth-largest in the first quarter, logged 6.3 million second-quarter sales in the U.S. and Canada, down 400,000 units from the previous quarter.

HTC Corp. was the fourth-largest mobile vendor in the North American market. The Taiwanese handset maker shipped 5.4 million mobile devices in the three month period, accounting for 11 percent of the market. 

(Yonhap News)