Global phone shipments for the third quarter hit 418 million units, growing seven percent annually and marking the highest growth rate for the market since 2011.

The numbers compiled in Strategy Analytic’s latest research indicate that Samsung accounted for nearly 29 percent of the total worldwide cell phone shipments, almost doubling the market share of its closest competitor Nokia, that claimed 15.5 percent.

Samsung claimed the record market share by shipping 120.1 million cell phone units globally, up 17 percent from what the Korean OEM shipped a year ago.

The report indicates that Nokia’s near 65 million handsets shipped worldwide is better than expected, even though well down from the 83 million it shipped a year ago, and that the company’s global market share seems to be stabilizing.

Apple, however, shipped nearly 34 million phones globally, growing 26 percent annually and increasing its global market share slightly from seven percent to eight percent.

LG and Huawei rounded out the report’s top five global phone makers, both growing their annual shipments and market share.

Strategy Analytics attributed the renewed growth for the handset industry to “healthier demand for 4G and 3G models across Asia, Europe and North America.”