Analyst outfit Canalys announced that HTC has overtaken Samsung and Apple in US shipments, whereas RIM dropped about 58 percent from one year ago.

Apparently, HTC shipped more than 5.7 million in Q3 2011 in the US, which is almost a quarter of the market. The outfit claims Samsung has overtaken Apple with its shipments hitting 4.9 million. Apple’s US smartphone shipments on the other hand were at 4.6 million in the same period. Note that the shipments refer to retailers and carriers, rather than actual users.

Canalys said that HTC derives its results from “compelling and differentiated” products as well as strong 4G Android lineup. RIM, however, seems to have not had such compelling products as the company’s shipments dropped as much as 58 percent from a year ago. The company market share has dropped below 10 percent for the first time, although its losses have been somewhat compensated by strong worldwide growth.

The outfit said that Android holds almost 70 percent share in the US and 57 percent worldwide, driven by Samsung, HTC and others.

More here.