LG Electronics sold $3 billion of handsets for the fourth quarter of 2008, a record for the Korean electronics company. Sales were up 16.5% from the third quarter and 40.3% compared to last year.

In total, LG sold 100.7 million handsets in 2008, up from 80.5 million in 2007. Sales were strong in Asia and Europe, officials said.

“While the global economic downturn is expected to continue into 2009, LG’s business target is to grow continuously and expand market share, capturing more of the market for feature-packed premium models, smartphones and mid-to-low end mass volume units,” the company stated.

But the handset division wasn’t enough to help overall results. LG lost $487.2 million in the quarter, compared to a profit of $452.1 million last year.

LG recently signed a partnership agreement with Microsoft, helping both companies challenge the dominance of Nokia’s Symbian platform.