Samsung jumps ahead of Apple again

SAMSUNG will continue to offer up some stiff competition for Apple for the foreseeable future. 

The Korean smartphone company shipped more than 80 million phones in the first quarter, while Apple’s shipments totaled 61 million, according to numbers out from Strategy Analytics.

Samsung shipped 83.2 million smartphones worldwide, capturing 24 percent of the market share in the quarter, down from 31 percent a year earlier. 

Apple captured 18 percent of the market during the quarter. Samsung's U.S. telecom arm, Samsung Telecommunications America, is based in Richardson.

"Samsung continued to face challenges in Asia and elsewhere, but its global performance has stabilized sufficiently well this quarter to overtake Apple and recapture first position as the world's largest smartphone vendor by volume," Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics executive director, said in a statement to Reuters.

The release of Apple's iPhone 6 catapulted the Cupertino-based company into Samsung's realm late last year. 

The companies were tied at 74 million devices shipped in the fourth quarter, according to The Verge, but Samsung has pulled ahead this spring, following the release of the Galaxy S6.