SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Company overtook Apple as the world's top smartphone maker in the July-September period with a 44 per cent jump in shipments, and forecast strong sales in the current quarter. Samsung had 23.8pc of the global smartphone market in the third quarter, nine points higher than Apple. Apple's iPhone sales shrank by 16pc to 17.1 million units in the third quarter, missing street expectations for the first time in year, as customers held off buying iPhones until the October launch of the latest version.