June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's second-largest mobile-phone maker, aims to more than double its share of the smartphone market, helped by the introduction of its Galaxy S model.

Samsung intends to raise its market share for smartphones to more than 10 percent in the fourth quarter from its current level of less than 5 percent, Lee Donjoo, senior vice president of company's Digital Media & Communication unit, said in an interview in Seoul yesterday.

A 10 percent market share may lift Samsung's ranking among smartphone makers to fourth from fifth, surpassing Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC Corp., which had a 7 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2009 according to an April 20 CLSA Ltd. report. Global sales of smartphones will increase 36 percent to 247 million handsets in 2010, research firm ISuppli Corp. said in April.

Samsung is now "more optimistic" about its 2010 smartphone sales, which may exceed initial targets, Lee said. "The market response to the Galaxy S from Europe is good," he said, without elaborating.

The Galaxy S, which runs on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, went on sale last week in some European countries. The phone has an e-book reader, a 5-megapixel camera, and a high- definition video recorder and player, according to the company's website. About 110 mobile operators around the world will offer the phone, Lee said.

Samsung, which shipped 227 million mobile phones in 2009, said Feb. 4 it aims to triple shipments of smartphones this year from 6 million, without providing specific figures

Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung rose 1 percent to close at 830,000 won in Seoul trading yesterday, the highest since May 4. The benchmark Kospi index gained 1.6 percent.

Samsung plans to offer a tablet computer, to be called Galaxy Tab, in the third quarter, Lee said, without giving details of the operating system or features.