Samsung sold more than twice as many phones as Apple in the third quarter of 2012.
The South Korean company reported that it sold 56.3m smartphones in the three months to the end of September, compared to Apple's 26.9m iPhones.
Samsung now represents about 31.3% of the global smartphone market.
Net profit was up to £3.7bn at the company, up from £1.9bn a year ago.
Total sales were up 26.4% to £29.5bn.
"The business environment remained difficult with global economic uncertainties persisting amid the fiscal concerns in the US and Europe," Samsung senior vice president Robert Yi said.
"However, we continued to break our quarterly profit records."
Meanwhile Apple said its profits for the three months to 29 September were $8.2bn, up 27% on the same quarter in 2011.
It added that its profits for the year had hit $41bn, up 45% on 2011.
Quarterly revenue stood at $36bn, compared to $28.3bn a year ago, and the company sold 14m iPads (+26%),; 26.9m iPhones (+58%) and 4.9m Macs (+1%).