Samsung

Samsung is the world's second largest shipbuilder. But who cares about that in these hyper-networked times, when it can boast about being the biggest smart phone maker on the planet. The multinational tech giant overtook a certain fruity Californian competitor -- with which it's been embroiled in a prolonged legal ding-dong over patents -- by selling 300 million mobiles in 2011.

This feat was achieved on the back of its hugely successful Galaxy range of Android-powered handsets, appealing to those people who are not only put off by the slick Apple iPhone marketing machine, but more likely wowed by the tech in these genre-pushing handsets.

Samsung translates as "tristar" or "three stars" -- which would be a middling score in our five-star review ratings system. The South Korean company doesn't get many of those -- it pipped the iPhone 4S to the esteemed mantle of our Best Phone of 2011 and we have described the Galaxy S3 as "arguably the best smart phone ever devised".

Seen as a leader in screen technology, with three sets featuring in our Best TV awards of 2011, the company continues to push at the boundaries with its wafer-thin Super OLED TVs, laptops, cameras and tablets.