Apple has taken three years to regain the crown as the world's top smartphone maker. The latest market data show that the iPhone maker beat Samsung for the first time since 2011.
Leading market research firm Gartner has released a report saying that Apple sold 74.8 million iPhones in the 4th quarter of 2014, gaining a market share of 20.4 percent.
Apple jumped on the bigger-screen bandwagon by releasing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in September. The Gartner report is strong evidence that Apple had made the right decision.
As Apple's major rival, Samsung sold 73 million handsets with a market share of 19.9 percent, losing nearly 10 percentage points from the same period of 2013.
Anshul Gupta, Gartner's principal research analyst, commented that "Samsung's share of profitable premium smartphone users has come under significant pressure."
However, it's yet to announce the final winner of the Apple vs. Samsung competition, as the latter is planning to release its most stylish flagship smartphones to date, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, on April 10.
Rounding out the top 5 are all Chinese smartphone makers. Lenovo, benefiting from the acquisition of Motorola Mobility, is in the third place with 24.3 million units. Huawei and Xiaomi follow with 21 million and 18.6 million, respectively.
