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"Samsung&amp;#039;s Galaxy smartphones beat Apple&amp;#039;s iPhone to become the big winners in the Christmas sales market, a new report has said.  The top three most popular Christmas handsets for 2012 were all Samsung Galaxy models, including the flagship Galaxy S3 at the number one spot.  Apple&amp;#039;s iPhone range only managed to rank at number five, with 2011&amp;#039;s iPhone 4S. Despite selling millions after its launch last September, the iPhone 5 failed to make the top five at Christmas, according to the latest uSwitch.com Mobile Tracker.  Samsung&amp;#039;s Galaxy S3 was the most popular phone in December, followed by the budget Galaxy Ace and the Galaxy S2, which has remained popular since it was unveiled back in February 2011.  Google&amp;#039;s new flagship Android phone, the LG-made Nexus 4, came in fourth place, ahead of the Apple iPhone 4S 16GB. The iPhone 5 16GB Black only managed sixth place.  Thanks to recent price cuts, Nokia&amp;#039;s Lumia 800 Windows Phone climbed four places to seventh. Samsung dominated the rest of the list, with the Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S3 Mini and Galaxy Ace 2 coming in at eighth, ninth and tenth place respectively.  Looking back at the year, the Galaxy S3 has retained its title as the UK&amp;#039;s most popular pay monthly handset, enjoying eight consecutive months at the top spot. Uswitch.com says that the phone has been &amp;quot;Britain&amp;#039;s favourite smartphone&amp;quot; since hitting the shelves in May and going straight to number one.  However, Apple&amp;#039;s handsets have also been consistent top performers, with the iPhone 4S appearing in the chart every month in 2012, including the number one spot in April.  The iPhone 5 was unable to dislodge the Galaxy S3 at the number one spot, but it has remained at the top end of the chart in every month since launch in September.   Top ten handsets for December (correct on December 31, 2012): 1. Samsung Galaxy S3 16GB Blue (No change from November) 2. Samsung Galaxy S2 (up two places) 3. Samsung Galaxy Ace (up three places) 4. LG Nexus 4 (up one place) 5. Apple iPhone 4S 16GB (down three places) 6. Apple iPhone 5 16GB Black (down three places) 7. Nokia Lumia 800 (up four places) 8. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (down one place) 9. Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini (up seven places) 10. Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 (new entry) Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, said that the enduring popularity of the Samsung Ace and Galaxy S2 proved that &amp;quot;a bargain price point and strong software support can keep classic handsets battling with the heavyweights&amp;quot;. He noted that 2013 is already shaping up to be &amp;quot;very exciting&amp;quot; in the smartphone market, including the launch of BlackBerry 10 devices and rumoured super-charged Android phones.  &amp;quot;January sees the make-or-break return of BlackBerry with a brand new operating system and refreshed range of devices,&amp;quot; Doku said.  &amp;quot;Rumour has it that a wave of turbo-charged Android devices are set to follow suit, while new Windows Phone 8 phones will also be looking to make an impact. &amp;quot;What can be certain is that current favourites Samsung and Apple had better watch out - competition is certainly going to be hotting up in the New Year.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/android/news/a447953/samsung-galaxy-s3-pips-iphone-at-christmas-2012/>