Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea ' s largest cell phone manufacturer, has earned its first-ever top selling spot in the North American handset market on an annual basis last year, a U.S.-based technology business research firm said Tuesday. According to a report by Strategic Analytics (SA), Samsung sold a record-high 48.50 million mobile phone units in the North American market in 2009, accounting for a 25.7 percent market share, as it beat out last year's top handset seller Motorola Inc. and clinched the top spot for the first time since its entry to the market in 1997. It was also the first year for Samsung to sell more than 40 million mobile handsets and take a market share exceeding 25 percent annually in the North American market, according to the report. LG Electronics Inc., the world's third-largest mobile phone manufacturer, claimed the second spot with a market share of 20.9 percent in North America followed by Motorola, 2008's top mobile handset retailer, whose market share dropped 6 percentage points to 16.1 percent last year, the report added. Samsung sold more than 227 million units last year, claiming over 20 percent of the global handset market, as it is targeting a 19 percent growth with more than 270 million handset units sold this year, the company said earlier this month. 