The nation’s two largest companies ― Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Group ― are thriving in the United States, a crucial market for their bigger global success.

Samsung Electronics, which overtook Finland’s Nokia as the world’s largest handset-maker in April, held the No. 1 position in the U.S. mobile phone market.

According to a survey by analytics firm comScore of some 30,000 mobile subscribers, 26.3 percent of the respondents said they owned a Samsung handset between August and October, up 0.7 percent from the previous three-month period.

Second-ranked Apple also saw its market share increase 1.5 percent to 17.8 percent, followed by LG Electronics with 17.6 percent and Motorola with 11 percent. 

Due to the strong sales of Samsung, Google’s Android mobile operating system also continued growing faster than Apple’s iOS.

Google gained 1.4 percent to take up 53.6 percent of the OS market between July and October, while Apple grew its share by 0.9 percent.

The survey found that 121.3 million people in the U.S. owned a smartphone in the three-month period ending October, about 51.9 percent of mobile market penetration, up 6 percent from the previous survey.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors are also fast gobbling up the fierce U.S. market, with their combined market share nearing the 10 percent mark.

The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association said Sunday that Hyundai and Kia sold 108,130 vehicles in September, a 23.4 percent increase from 87,660 units during the same period last year.

Their market share also increased 0.8 percent to reach 9.2 percent, moving up one notch to become the sixth largest carmaker there.

The KAMA said Kia’s mid-sized sedan K5 and new sport utility vehicle Santa Fe are driving up sales overall, while Hyundai’s Alabama factory also boosted sales with increased production recently.

In September, General Motors topped U.S. car sales with a market share of 17.8 percent, followed by Toyota with 14.5 percent, Ford with 14.4 percent, Chrysler with 11.9 percent and Honda with 9.9 percent.

European carmakers, however, further struggled in sales, with Germany’s Volkswagen taking up the largest market share of 3.1 percent among them.

U.S. car deliveries rose 12.7 percent to 1.18 million in September, largely driven by constant demand for new vehicles and enhanced marketing activities of carmakers.

In the first nine months this year, more than 10.86 million cars were sold in the U.S., a 14.5 percent increase from a year ago. During the same period, Hyundai and Kia saw a 13.3 percent increase in sales with 974,728 deliveries.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)