Led by blockbuster sales of the iPhone 6 and its larger sibling the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple tied with Samsung to become the world's largest smartphone vendor based on global shipments during the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the latest report from market research firm Strategy Analytics.

Global Smartphone Vendor Shipments (Millions of Units) Q4 '13 2013 Q4 '14 2014
Samsung 86.0 319.8 74.5 317.2
Apple 51.0 153.4 74.5 192.7
Lenovo-Motorola 18.8 62.1 24.7 92.7
Huawei 16.6 50.4 24.1 74.1
Others 117.8 404.3 182.3 606.8
Total 290.2 990.0 380.1 1283.5

Both companies shipped a total of 74.5 million smartphones in the quarter, claiming 19.6 percent of the market each – while Samsung saw its shipments drop from 86 million in Q4 2013, Apple's shipments increased from 51 million during the same period.

Global Smartphone Vendor Marketshare (%) Q4 '13 2013 Q4 '14 2014
Samsung 29.6% 32.3% 19.6% 24.7%
Apple 17.6% 15.5% 19.6% 15.0%
Lenovo-Motorola 6.5% 6.3% 6.5% 7.2%
Huawei 5.7% 5.1% 6.3% 5.8%
Others 40.6% 40.8% 48.0% 47.3%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100%

For all of 2014, Samsung retained its top spot with shipments of 317.2 million units, giving it a 24.7 percent market share, although that was down from 2013's 319.8 million units, or 32.3 percent share. "Samsung may soon have to consider taking over rivals, such as Blackberry, in order to revitalize growth this year," the report said.

The South Korean company was followed by Apple, which captured 15 percent of the smartphone market by shipping a total of 192.7 million smartphones last year, an increase from 153.4 million the year before. Lenovo, which acquired Motorola Mobility from Google last year, captured the third spot with 7.2 percent market share, while fellow Chinese company Huawei came in fourth with 5.8 percent share of the market.

Overall, global smartphone shipments grew 31 percent annually from 290.2 million units in Q4 2013 to a record 380.1 million in Q4, 2014, and a total of 1.3 billion smartphones were shipped worldwide last year.