Korean equipment vendor Samsung maintained it strong pace in the third quarter, securing its position as the world’s number two handset vendor behind Nokia.

Handset shipments jumped 47 per cent to 42.6 million while the average selling price of devices also increased slightly from $148 in the second quarter to $151 in the third quarter.

Ultra Edition handsets and 3G devices were both big sellers, shifting 5.7 million and 5.5 million units each.

Sales at Samsung’s handset unit increased 8 per cent year on year to Won4.8tn (Eur3.7bn).