With the new year in full swing, electronics firms are finally taking a moment to review their earnings from last year. While many major firms (such as Panasonic) have shown lackluster results, South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd sees 2010 as an opportunity to turn up the heat in the cell phone sector.

In an announcement Thursday, the company said that aims to triple smartphone shipments this year to more than 18 million units as the world's second-biggest cellphone maker.

The company's greatest competition comes from homeland rival LG Electronics Inc, which when combined, account for more than 30 percent of the global cellphone market. Even with such impressive numbers backing them, Samsung realizes the growing trend of smartphone demand (as indicated by the demand for iPhones & Google's Nexus One) and plans to shift a majority of its attention there.