Samsung Galaxy S III bests iPhone 4S in Q3 2012 smartphone sales

The battle for smartphone superiority continues, and Samsung won out in the last quarter as the Galaxy S III beat the iPhone 4S in terms of global sales.

Strategy Analytics notes that Samsung sold 18 million units of the highly touted Galaxy S III, compared to "just" 16.2 million units of Apple's iPhone 4S. As you'll recall, though, the iPhone 5 hit shelves at the end of Q3 2012. That likely caused some cannibalization of iPhone 4S sales, as potential buyers may have delayed purchases until the release of the iPhone 5.

Don't worry about Apple -- Strategy Analytics believes that the iPhone 5 will handily trounce the Galaxy S III in Q4 2012. As the firm notes, Apple has already sold 6 million of the smartphones with almost two months remaining in the last quarter of the year.