Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. eked out a slim lead in market share over Motorola Inc. in the United States last year, in part due to the latter's fading fortunes, according to new numbers from IDC. Where Samsung showed 15.5% year-on-year growth between 2007 and 2008, Motorola showed a 38% drop. LG Electronics Co. grew 30.4% in the same period. Motorola's reversal of fortune was stark: In 2007, the American vendor claimed fully one-third of its home market, which has dwindled to well less than one-quarter. The growth in smartphone shipments in the U.S. was a remarkable 68%. Little more than 1% market share separated Samsung (22% U.S. share) from Motorola (21.6%) and LG (20.7%) for 2008. Samsung was the U.S.'s top vendor in both the third and fourth quarters of 2008. Together, the top three vendors claimed more than 64% of the market. The "other" category – the share battled over by vendors outside the top 10 – shrank to 4.6% from 6% the prior year, a negative growth rate of nearly 27%.