Ailing Motorola (NYSE: MOT) was dealt another blow as the phone maker slipped a spot into third place behind second place Samsung in the race for global shipments.

Samsung shipped around 37.4 million mobile phones in the second quarter it said last week as it reported earnings, whereas Motorola said it shipped from 35 to 36 million devices in the second quarter of 2007, according to a Tuesday report from market research firm Ovum

"In revenue terms Samsung had already overtaken Motorola as the 2nd place vendor. But the big news this quarter is that its shipments have overtaken Motorola's, said Ovum analyst Martin Garner.

Analysts say Motorola's market share is continuing to erode and will not show any signs of stabilizing before next year at the earliest. Motorola's market share has already fallen to about 13 per cent from about 22 per cent at the end of last year.

Motorola reported its second straight quarterly loss on Wednesday. It lost $28 million or 1 cent per share, compared with a profit of $1.38 billion, or 55 cents a year ago. Revenue fell 19 percent to $8.7 billion.

Electronics Motorola Smartphone Samsung