The Japanese subsidiary of the IT marketing research company International Data Corporation released a report today announcing cell phone shipments in the third quarter in the domestic market. Mobile phone shipments increased 18.9 percent from the same period last year for a grand total of 8.66 million units, continuing a four-quarter trend of record growth in both the smartphone and dumbphone markets.

Sharp is keeping its four-and-a-half-year streak as the top cell phone manufacturer this quarter, with a market share of 18.8%, followed closely by previously-fourth-place Panasonic Mobile, whose 16.6% share is supported primarily by its handsets on NTT Docomo’s network. Fujitsu was pushed down by Panasonic but was able to maintain its 15.1% slice of the market, and Kyocera (“They still make phones?”) comes in fourth riding on their Au handsets with 12.7%, up 1.3 percent from last quarter. Apple, with their top-selling iPhone 4, hit the top five for the first time with 12.2% market share.

IDC Japan projects that the fourth quarter will see further growth by Sharp, especially with their new smartphones; this will push smartphone shipments in Japan over 20% of domestic handset numbers and also lend to positive growth in yearly figures.