Screen too small
If the big-but-skinny form factor is the rage, then the iPhone 4S's 3.5-inch display is out of fashion. The Google/Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a 4.65-inch screen and the Motorola Droid RAZR has a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display. The HTC Titan, which runs on the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango Platform, sports a 4.7-inch Super LCD capacitive touch-screen. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich could rival Apple's iOS 5 in sheer functionality. The iPhone usually beats rivals in terms of design but the screen size is holding it back. Apple / Samsung

Reuters reported last Friday that Korean electronics company Samsung has surpassed Apple in smartphone sales this July through September quarter. The 44 percent growth makes Samsung the world's top smartphone producer right now.

Samsung had only entered the smartphone scene about a year ago, but sales have been consistently skyrocketing as they produce more and more of these phones. Samsung's smartphone unit sales have quadrupled every year, selling 7 million in the beginning of the year and currently hitting 28 million.

Earlier this year, Samsung announced that they have shipped over 30 million units of the Galaxy smartphones since its release back in June of 2010. On average, the company has been shipping around 17 million smartphones per period. Although the company's third-quarter net profit fell by 23 percent, its rapid growth in the smartphone sector makes up for weaker consumer products in other departments. The chip division was previously Samsung's sector with the best performance, but profits are dropping in that area recently.

Market Research firm Strategy Analytics reported that shipments in their third quarter grew a whopping 44 percent from last year. Samsung reaches a record high of selling a total of 117 million units.

Samsung's Android smartphone sales are doing so well that its market continues to expand. The family of Galaxy smartphones alone include the Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, among others.

Apple, on the other hand, is still one (next to Nokia) of the world's leading producer of cell-phones overall. From this quarter's results, both Nokia and Apple seem to have dipped in their shares trailing behind Samsung's overwhelming success. Apple dropped from 17.4 to 14.6 percent and Nokia from 32.7 to 14.4 percent.

Executives at Samsung expect the company's sales to stay on track through the next quarter. The solid demand and strong sales are likely to continue growing. At the current rate, Samsung has reported a net profit of $14.64 billion, its biggest second annual net profit ever. They still haven't announced capital expenditure plans for the coming year, but investments and growth are both expected to go up from last year's.

Samsung Android Apple inc. Samsung