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The firm said Thursday that the December issue of Que Choisir, a monthly magazine published by UFC (Federal Consumers Union of France), a French consumer federation, chose Samsung's SGH-S500, one of the mobile phone maker’s new models this year, as the best model among the new phones marketed this year.

According to the monthly, out of a possible 20-point score, the SGH-S500 was graded 14.5, the highest among 52 different models of global mobile sets the magazine selected initially. The Samsung model outdid its rivals in the battery, communication quality, and simplicity in use.

Of the top five models selected by the monthly among 52 models, four were Samsung products, including SGH-S500, SGH-S100, SGH-P400 and SGH-T400.

Samsung Electronics also said that the Aankoop, a magazine published by the Belgium Consumers Association, chose five of Samsung's mobile phone models for its top 10 cell phone products that were marketed this year. The products have been selected out of a total of 47 new mobile phones sold in Belgium, the magazine said.

An official at Samsung Electronics said that with its 8.6 percent market share in Europe, the firm has become the third-largest cell-phone maker in the market.

(Paik Seung-jae, whitesj@chosun.com )