Samsung has sold more smartphones in the last quarter than tech-giant Apple in the last quarter, with Samsung shipping more than 27 million, and Apple a significantly lower 17.1 million.

While the figures mentioned above may raise some eyebrows, the figures are not all that surprising when you begin to look at the details. For example, the iPhone 4S was only released once the quarter ended, meaning any iPhone 4S sales were not included in the tally. Furthermore, many customers tend to hold out from purchasing a new iPhone when a new one is predicted to be released, meaning Apple sales diminish for a period in which the figures were measured.

During the last quarter Samsung managed to uphold strong Galaxy S and Galaxy S II sales, however they also had a number of other handsets on the market which helped to push their figures ahead Apple’s. Samsung offers a range of handsets suitable for both low-end and high-end users, while Apple only caters for the high-end smartphone user with the iPhone.

There have been ongoing disputes between the two smartphone manufacturing companies, with Apple claiming Samsung’s Galaxy phones copy the iPhone and iPad tablet designs, and Samsung has claimed Apple copied their wireless communication technologies.

In terms of the mobile market as a whole and not just smartphones, Nokia continue to dominate, with the company shipping 16.8 million smartphones alone.