Sales of smartphones accounted for 55% of overall mobile phone sales in the third quarter of 2013, and reached their highest share to date, according to Gartner.

　　Worldwide smartphone sales to end users reached 250.2 million units in the third quarter of 2013, up 45.8% from a year ago, while worldwide mobile phone sales to end users grew 5.7% on year to 455.6 million units, accoring to Gartner.

　　"Sales of feature phones continued to decline and the decrease was more pronounced in markets where the average selling price (ASP) for feature phones was much closer to the ASP for affordable smartphones," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. "In markets such as China and Latin America, demand for feature phones fell significantly as users rushed to replace their old models with smartphones."

　　Samsung increased its lead over Apple in the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2013, Gartner disclosed. Samsung sold about 80.36 million smartphones in the third quarter, up 46% from 55.05 million units during the same period of 2012, while Apple's smartphone sales increased 23.2% on year to 30.33 million units. Samsung's share of the global smartphone market stayed flat at 32.1% while Apple saw its share slip to 12.1% in the third quarter from 14.3% in third-quarter 2012.

　　"While the arrival of the new iPhones 5s and 5c had a positive impact on overall sales, such impact could have been greater had they not started shipping late in the quarter. While we saw some inventory built up for the iPhone 5c, there was good demand for iPhone 5s with stock out in many markets," Gupta continued.

　　Meanwhile, China-based Lenovo's sales of smartphones jumped to 12.9 million units in the third quarter of 2013, up 84.5% on year, Gartner said. Lenovo has constantly expanded its smartphone presence particularly in the China market.

　　"Lenovo continues to rely heavily on its home market, which represents more than 95% of its overall mobile phone sales. This could limit its growth after 2014, when the Chinese market is expected to decelerate," Gupta warned.

　　Nokia did better than anticipated in the third quarter of 2013, reaching 63 million mobile phones, thanks to sales of both Lumia and Asha series devices, according to Gartner. Increased smartphone sales supported by an expanded Lumia portfolio helped Nokia move up to the No. 8 spot in the global smartphone market. But regional and Chinese Android device manufacturers continued to beat market demand, taking larger share and creating a tough competitive environment for Lumia devices, Gartner noted.