Apple replaces Samsung as No. 1 global smartphone maker in Q4

NEW DELHI: iPhone maker Apple has dethroned Samsung from the top spot on the global smartphone tally in Q4, a position that the Korean electronics giant had strongly held for over three years, according to research firm Gartner.

For the entire year, however, Samsung firmly held on to the top slot.

According to Gartner, the US-based firm captured a 20.4 percent share (74.83 million units shipped) of the global smartphone market, which saw over 367.48 million units being shipped in the October-December 2014 quarter.

Samsung, which had a 24.4 per cent share in the third quarter of 2014, saw its share declining to 19.9 per cent in the last quarter of the year with shipment of 73.03 million smartphones.

Samsung continues to struggle to control its falling smartphone share, which was at its highest in the third quarter of 2013 at 29.5 per cent.

However, the Korean major stayed firm as the largest smartphone vendor for the year 2014 shipping over 307.5 million smartphones (24.7 per cent share) compared to Apple, which shipped 191.4 million units and had 15.4 per cent share.

In 2014, total smartphone shipment totaled 1.2 billion units, up 28.4 per cent from 2013 and represented two-thirds of global mobile phone sales.

Lenovo (along with Motorola sales) had a 6.6 per cent share, followed by Huawei (5.5 per cent) and Xiaomi (5.1 per cent) in October-December 2014 quarter.

Chinese vendors like Huawei and Xiaomi are continuing to improve their sales in China and other overseas markets, increasing their share in the mid to low-end smartphone market.