Samsung reportedly shipped more than 20 million smartphones in the third calendar quarter of this year, moving the South Korea-based company ahead of Apple for the first time since the iPhone was unveiled. Apple on Tuesday revealed that it shipped 17.1 million iPhone handsets during the September quarter, missing analyst expectations by more than 3 million units. According to The Wall Street Journal’s anonymous source, Samsung shipped more than 20 million smartphones during the quarter, pushing it past Apple. With Nokia having shipped just 16.8 million smartphones last quarter, down 38% from 27.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier, this also makes Samsung the No. 1 smartphone vendor by volume in the third quarter of 2011. Samsung has not yet revealed official shipment figures for the third quarter.

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