Aggressive marketing tactics by Korean smartphone companies to gain traction in the North American market seem to be working as they solidify their positions in the region.

According to the report by research firm Strategy Analytics on Monday, nearly half of mobile users, or 45.2 percent, living in the U.S. and Canada used Samsung or LG smartphones in the second quarter of this year.

Samsung Electronics accounted for 35.2 percent of the market, selling 12 million handset units, and LG Electronics took up 10 percent with Apple securing a 32.3 percent market share in the same period.

With the combined market shares of the two Korean mobile makers and Apple reaching almost 80 percent, it is said that the U.S. market is now overtaken by the big three.

“Considering Canada makes up only around 10 percent of the North American market, the report indicates that the U.S. market is divided among Samsung, Apple and LG,” a market watcher said.

The increasing market shares are attributed to the Korean firms’ more aggressive marketing approaches, according market analysts.

According to the Wall Street Journal in May, Samsung sank around $401 million in marketing last year, exceeding the $333 million spent by Apple, which paved the way for snatching the top spot from the U.S. rival for the first time this year.

Samsung also reinforced its marketing in North America when launching its flagship handset Galaxy S4 in April.

The marketing cost for promoting the latest Samsung smartphone has not been disclosed yet.

LG is scheduled to unveil its much-anticipated smartphone G2 in New York Wednesday (local time).

“The event is aimed at promoting LG’s brand image in the U.S. market,” an LG official said.

The two Seoul-based firms maintained their leads in West Europe and China as well in the first quarter of this year.

Samsung’s market share in the European market increased to 45 percent from 39 percent, while that of LG increased to 8 percent from 2 percent.

Apple lost ground to the Korean firms in the European region as its market share marked 20 percent in the same timeframe, down 5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Samsung outgunned the California-based handset producer in China, the stronghold for low and mid-range Chinese smartphone makers including ZTE and Huawei, by releasing an array of affordable smartphones.

It is also said that it is a matter of time before the Korean phone makers become dominant players in India, one of the largest markets where market leader Nokia took up 26 percent of the market last year, followed by Samsung which recorded 22 percent.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)