Samsung Electronics took up 21.2 percent of the global mobile phone market in the fourth quarter last year, the largest market share ever by a Korean firm.

The global handset market expanded 10 percent on-year in the October to December period with sales of 3.24 million phones, posting the first growth since the third quarter of 2008, market researcher Strategy Analytics said Sunday.

Samsung's full-year market share rose 3.4 percentage points to 20.1 percent on-year in 2009, the largest growth among the top five global cell phone makers.

LG Electronics saw its market share climb 1.8 points over the same period, while Nokia's share slid 1.7 points, Sony Ericsson's 3.2 points, and Motorola's 3.6 points.

"While Motorola and Ericsson were struggling to enhance their profitability, Samsung and LG posted record sales again," the market researcher said. "Samsung also achieved a record yearly sales volume of 200 million units."

Strategy Analytics also forecast that Samsung's key growth engine will shift from touchscreen phones last year to smartphones sporting its own Bada platform or Google's Android operating system this year.