Samsung Electronics, the world's second-largest handset manufacturer after Nokia, said Wednesday that its total mobile phone sales in the U.S. exceeded the 150 million mark, 11 years after the South Korean technology giant entered the market.

Samsung jumped into the world's biggest consumer electronics market by exporting CDMA-based phones through U.S. wireless operator Sprint.

Total sales of the company's phones reached 10 million in 2001 and surpassed 100 million in December 2006, its spokeswoman Chae Su-yeon said.

``We are positive on selling some 30 million this year, there, through our strategic partners such as AT&T and Verizon,'' she said, adding the touch-based Instinct and series of Blackjack smart phones have been gaining popularity.

According to an estimate by Strategy Analytics, a market research firm, Samsung's market share in the U.S. mobile phone segment rose to 22.1 percent in the first quarter of this year from 18 percent for the whole of 2007.

yckim@koreatimes.co.kr