Gartner said Indian smartphone vendor Micromax has become the 11th largest phone vendor in the world with 2 percent share in 2014.

Micromax has increased its phone market share to 2 percent in 2014 from 1.4 percent.

Worldwide mobile phone sales rose 3.9 percent to nearly 1.9 billion units in 2014, said Gartner. All regions recorded growth in 2014, except Japan and Western Europe, which recorded declines of 2.8 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively.

The phone share of Samsung decreased to 20.9 percent from 24.6 percent.

Apple’ phone share increased to 10.2 percent from 8.3 percent.

Microsoft share fell to 9.9 percent from 13.9 percent.

The Lenovo-Motorola combined share in phone market rose to 4.5 percent from 3.7 percent.

Samsung loses #1 smartphone spot

Gartner said sales of smartphones rose 29 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 367.5 million.

Samsung lost the No. 1 spot to Apple in the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2014. Samsung had been in the top spot since 2011.

In 2014, sales of smartphones grew 28.4 percent to 1.2 billion units.

Apple, which sold 74.8 million units, moved to the No. 1 position in the global smartphone market.

Lenovo, which includes sales of mobile phones by Lenovo and Motorola, moved to the No. 3 spot in the global smartphone market, reaching 6.6 percent market share and growing 47.6 percent.

Chinese vendors, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, are continuing to improve their sales in China and other overseas markets.

Baburajan K
[email protected]