Apple had a superb last quarter of 2012 and regained top spot in global smartphone sales from Samsung, who previously wrestled control from Apple.

Statistics reported by IHS show that in the last quarter of 2012 Apple sold an amazing 37 million smartphones, which is up from 20 million in the 3rd quarter. The growth in sales is due to the success of the iPhone 4S (pictured above), which has thrived after initially receiving critiscm.

However, Samsung sold just 1 million units left with sales of 36 million and still sold more smartphones in 2011 than Apple. Samsung shipped a total of 327 million smartphones in the year, while Apple sold just 93 million.

Samsung does have a much bigger range of phones than Apple, but they'll still be incredibly pleased,  especially with the success of the Galaxy SII. However, both companies were trumped by Nokia who sold 417 million phones worldwide, but that's due to high feature-phone sales in developing countries and not smartphone sales.

3G has no idea what figures we'll be reporting this time next year, but Samsung will hope to have continued the amazing progress they've made this year , while Apple will hope the iPhone's dominance continues.