Gartner, which released its report Thursday, said mobile-phone sales ticked up .01 percent compared to last year's third quarter, finishing at 308.9 million units. The numbers would have been considerably worse if the smartphone category hadn't saved the day: The number of smartphones sold increased 12.8 percent compared to the year-ago quarter, totaling more than 41 million units.

Gartner's smartphone numbers, which were included in a report on the overall status of mobile devices, showed no change in position among the top five players. However, the market share of these players has changed, in some cases dramatically.

Gartner: Nokia Still on Top

Leader Nokia saw its slice of the smartphone pie recede from 42.3 percent to 39.3 percent. BlackBerry, which is made by Research In Motion, rose almost five percent -- from 15.9 percent to 20.8 percent. Apple rode the coattails of the iPhone to a 17.1 percent share, easily beating the 12.9 percent it held during last year's third quarter. HTC rose from 4.5 percent to 6.5 percent, and Samsung was up a bit, from three percent to 3.2 percent.

Perhaps most interesting is that customers are migrating toward the big five, as the "others" category slipped eight percentage points, from 21.3 percent to 13.1 percent.

IDC: Big Gain for RIM's BlackBerry

IDC reported its quarterly smartphone numbers last week. The firm said 43.3 million units were shipped, a 4.2 percent increase from the 41.5 million units shipped during last year's third quarter and 3.2 percent more than the 41.9 million units shipped in the second quarter.

The numbers were about what IDC expected, said Ramon Llamas, the senior research analyst for mobile devices. "I think they are on a very good growth path," he said. "Smartphones have proven to be almost recession-proof."

Llamas said product introductions were a bit slower than normal during the third quarter, but they are starting to increase. He added that consumers also are holding onto their devices a bit longer, but that action is picking up a bit as well. "Moving to the fourth quarter, a lot of people see ... a lot of devices and plans for very good prices and are deciding to take advantage while they can."

IDC has the same five top smartphone players in the same order as Gartner. Contrary to Gartner, however, IDC sees a bit of growth for Nokia compared to the third quarter of last year. Nokia, IDC said, increased its market share from 37.1 percent to 37.9 percent. RIM moved from 14.6 percent to 19 percent, Apple from 16.6 percent to 17.1 percent, and HTC from 5.1 percent to 5.6 percent. Samsung lost .02 percent, dropping from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent. IDC also saw the "other" category shrink, from 22.9 percent to 16.8 percent.