Although it’s no longer Wall Street’s darling, Apple is still outperforming the competition and in the fourth quarter of 2012 it managed to pass Samsung and become the top phonemaker in the US market.

Strategy Analytics reports that Apple sold 17.7 million iPhones in the US during the holiday quarter, a 38 percent jump year-on-year. Meanwhile Samsung sold 16.8 million units. Apple had a 34 percent market share, while Samsung is still in a close second with 32 percent.

LG ranked third, with a market share of 9 percent and 4.7 million units shipped. However, LG lost ground compared to 2011, when it managed to ship 6.9 million units and command a 14 percent share.

However, smartphones are maturing and growth is starting to slow down. Total phone shipments in the US grew just 4 percent to 52 million units.