The growing popularity of smartphones the world over can be gauged from the fact that global shipments of smartphones have risen to a record 251 million units registering a 45increase during Q3with Samsung leading Apple. The global shipment this time is all time high.

According to a recent study conducted by the Strategy Analytics, Samsung leads the table with a record 88.4 million units shipped in the third quarter on 2013. This accounted for a record 35 percent market share.

Apple Inc., on the other hand, shipped 33.8 million units with a market share of 13 percent, a fall of 3 percent as compared to same period last year.

Interestingly, this is the first time that the total shipments have crossed the quarter billion

"Samsung shipped over two times more smartphones than Apple during the quarter," Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics executive director, noted. "While shipments of the flagship Galaxy S4 model softened, solid demand for the new Note 3 phablet and for mass-market devices like the Galaxy Y helped to lift Samsung's volumes,” Mawston added.

"We expect Apple to rebound sharply and regain share in the upcoming fourth quarter of 2013 due to high demand for its new iPhone 5S model," Mawston said.

Chinese phone maker Huawei Technologies which shipped 12.7 million has grabbed the third spot with 5 percent market share followed by LG, and Lenovo placed fourth, and fifth, respectively.

"Huawei captured 5 percent market share and became the world's third largest smartphone vendor," Strategy Analytics senior analyst Woody Oh said.

"Huawei remains very strong at home in China, but its position is less robust in other major markets like the US and Europe. Huawei will need to expand aggressively in the American and European markets if it wants to seriously challenge the big two of Samsung and Apple next year."