Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone maker, posted a record shipments in the second quarter of the year, data showed on Friday.

According to the data compiled by research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics shipped a record 76 million smartphones in the second quarter, compared with 69.4 million in the previous quarter.

The South Korean smartphone maker also continued to dominate the global smartphone market in terms of market share, with its stake in the April-June period standing at 33.1 percent, remaining flat from the previous quarter, according to the researcher.

The second-quarter market share, however, was slightly down from its record high of 33.9 percent in the third quarter of last year.

"Samsung grew 56 percent annually and shipped a record 76.0 million smartphones worldwide ... Samsung shipped over two times more smartphones than Apple during the quarter. The flagship Galaxy

S4 model experienced solid demand in China and worldwide and helped to lift volumes," the research firm said.

On the other hand, Samsung's archrival Apple Inc. saw its smartphone shipments sink to 31.2 million in the second quarter from 37.4 million from the previous quarter, with its market share falling to 13.6 percent from 17.9 percent over the cited period, it said.

Samsung Electronics said earlier in the day that its second-quarter profit spiked 49.6 percent from a year earlier, buoyed by robust shipments of its flagship Galaxy S smartphones.

Net profit came to 7.77 trillion won (US$6.96 billion) in the April-June period, compared with 5.19 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue soared 20.7 percent on-year to a record 57.46 trillion won in the second quarter and operating profit climbed 47.5 percent to a record 9.53 trillion won.

The data showed that LG Electronics Co., Samsung's smaller local rival, maintained its third spot in terms of smartphone shipments on the back of strong demand for its flagship smartphone Optimus G lineup.

LG Electronics sold a total of 12.1 million smartphones in the second quarter, rising from 10.3 million units the previous quarter, with its market share standing at 5.4 percent, up 0.4 percentage point over the cited period, the data showed.

"LG captured 5 percent share and maintained its position as the world's third largest smartphone vendor for the second straight quarter. The popular Optimus and Nexus models have been the main drivers of LG's success. If LG can expand its retail presence and marketing in major countries such as the U.S. or China, LG could quietly start to challenge Apple for second position," Strategy Analytics said.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics maintained its status as the world's largest handset maker in the second quarter by selling a total of 107 million mobile phones, including feature phones. Its market share stood at 27.7 percent.

Long-time market leader Nokia Corp. came in second with a shipment of 61.1 million mobile phones and a 15.8 percent market share, followed by Apple with 31.2 million units and a 8.1 percent market share and LG Electronics with 17.8 million and a 4.6 percent market share, the data showed. (Yonhap News)