Quarter 3 shipments of handsets to North America at 48.24 million units was a 6.63% decline on the same period in 2010 but overall 2011 shipments to date for the first three-quarters of 2011 are 2.10% up on 2010 and a robust quarter 4 figure is expected that will likely see 2011 full year shipments exceed the 2010 total, according to a new research report from Signals and Systems Telecom.

Apple’s iPhones have gained an 11.10% share in Q3 although this was a decline on both previous 2011 quarters — but it’s still up on 2010 shipments overall.

Within North America, quarter 3 has witnessed great changes with vendors as several made announcements of new products, new operating systems and new functionality in a drive to generate sales ahead of the festival quarter 4 demand, says the research group. Samsung has achieved a Q3 2011 market share of 30.15% of all shipments to North America, nearly double the market share of its nearest rival, fellow Korean LG (16.75% share).

HTC has a Q3 2011 market share of 12.35%, which reflects substantial growth year on year and quarter on quarter since it entered the North American market in 2008, according to Signals and Systems Telecom. Motorola Mobility retained its fifth place for Q3 with a 7.75% share while RIM’s Blackberry range of handsets kept a 6.69% Q3 share.

Signals and Systems Telecom says Huawei has increased its share virtually every quarter since its launch on the North American market in 2008 to now reach a 4.40% share in Q3 2011. ZTE and Pantech are both recent entrants to the North American market in 2009 and each mirrors a continual rise to reach a Q3 share of 2.72% and 2.51 respectively.

Kyocera has now survived more than 10 years in the North American marketplace and holds a Q3 share of 2.09% ahead of Nokia’s 1.47%. The latter has seen a “dramatic fall” from its third place 16.71% share in 2005, says Signals and Systems Telecom.