Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest producer of smartphones, has been criticized by the official China Central Television (CCTV) station over "faulty" Galaxy S3 smartphones, becoming the latest foreign company to come under fire by China's state-run broadcaster.

In a 30-minute special that aired late Monday, CCTV reported a series of claims by Chinese consumers that the Samsung smartphones "suddenly went dead" because of problems related to their memory cards.

CCTV also raised questions over the reliability of Samsung smartphones by releasing interview clips with repairmen.

The report came a day after CCTV criticized Starbucks Corp. for selling coffee in China at higher prices than it does in other markets.

In the second quarter of this year, Samsung saw its share of the Chinese smartphone market edge down, but still it managed to keep the No. 1 spot.   

Samsung saw its smartphone market share fall to 18.3 percent in the second quarter, down from 18.5 percent a quarter earlier, the Chinese unit of the research firm IDC said in the report.

For all of this year, smartphone sales in China are expected to hit 360 million units, it said. (Yonhap News)