[The Chosun Ilbo, January 16 2008] Samsung Defeats Motorola to Rank No. 2 Phone Maker

Samsung Electronics believes it has edged out Motorola to become the world's second-largest mobile phone maker.

Korea's largest electronics maker said Tuesday that it sold 161.1 million handsets last year, a 42 percent increase from 2006. Motorola is estimated to have sold 160.9 million handsets in the same period.

If it confirmed, it will be the first time that Samsung has taken second place in annual handset sales in the global market.

The company's share of the global market increased 3 percentage points from 11.4 percent in 2006 to 14.4 percent in 2007. Sales increased seven percent from the previous year to W18.37 trillion while operating profit jumped 22 percent to W2.12 trillion.