Outpaces Samsung despite Galaxy S III being the quarter's best-selling smartphone.
Mobile ad network Adfonic has released its Global AdMetrics Report for Q3 2012 to show that Apple and Samsung have increased their global share of ad impressions, powering nine of the global top ten ad served smartphones.
However, Apple managed to retain the top spot ahead of its Korean foe to power 37 per cent of impressions, up from 34 per cent in Q2. This was achieved despite Samsung's Galaxy S III being crowned the world's best-selling device during the quarter, with the firm generating 24 per cent of impressions up from 23 per cent.
Apple's growth looks set to further too, as the iPhone 5 and new iPads weren't included in the figures due to its late September and October releases, though its existing iPhone and iPod Touch still managed to rank as the top two devices by ad impression share.
Victor Malachard, CE of Adfonic, said: "It is significant that, even though Samsung is making huge inroads in device ownership and gaining mobile advertising share, it is still losing ground to Apple.
"And these results don’t take into account the impact of new Apple devices such as the iPhone 5, the iPad Mini and the new iPad, which will be felt during Q4. Meanwhile new Samsung products such as the Galaxy S3 Mini will also start to appear. It’ll be very interesting to see how the Apple v Samsung rivalry plays out during Q4." The full report is available from the Adfonic website – http://adfonic.com/news/reports/