• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 15, 2011

Android claimed more than half (52%) of the global smartphone market in the third quarter, more than doubling its share from a year ago, according to Gartner data released Tuesday. Conversely, Symbian continued to lose ground, slipping from a market-leading 36% share a year ago to 16.6% in the most recent quarter. Rounding out the top five smartphone platforms were Apple’s iOS (15%), Rearch in Motion’s BlackBerry (11%) and Samsung’s Bada (2.2%).

Total smartphone sales to end users reached 115 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 42% from the year-earlier period, but down 7% from the prior quarter. Smartphone sales accounted for 26% of all mobile phone sales, only slightly better than the 25 percent in the second quarter.

Samsung became the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer for the first time in the third quarter, selling 24 million devices and surging past Nokia. But Nokia continued to lead in overall mobile phone sales, with 105 million units sold to end users, representing 28% market share.

Worldwide mobile phone sales reached 440.5 million units in the third quarter, up 5.6% from a year ago and drvien mainly by demand for non-smartphone devices in emerging markets.