Smartphone sales jumped over 38 per cent as demand for for low-priced devices in emerging countries like India and China pushed volume to cross the one billion unit milestone in 2013.
According to research firm IDC, the global smartphone shipment grew 38.4 per cent to touch 1,004.2 million units in 2013 from 725.3 million units in 2012.
Samsung led the shipment tally with 313.9 million and 31.3 per cent share of the market, followed by Apple with 153.4 million units (15.3 per cent) and Huawei with 48.8 million units (4.9 per cent).
lG and lenovo stood at fourth and fifth slot with 4.8 per cent and 4.5 per cent share, respectively.
"Worldwide smartphone market reached yet another milestone, having shipped one billion units in a single year for the first time," the firm said.
Smartphones accounted for 55.1 per cent of total mobilephone shipments in 2013, up from the 41.7 per cent in 2012.
In the fourth quarter alone, vendors shipped a total of 284.4 million smartphones globally, up 24.2 per cent from the 229 million units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The ranking in the fourth quarter was similar to that for the full year, except lenovo swapping positions with lG.
In Q4 2013, lenovo had a market share of 4.9 per cent compared to that of lG at 4.6 per cent.Among the top trends driving smartphone growth are largescreen devices and low cost, IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker Programme Director Ryan Reith said.