A huge quarter for Apple’s iPhone in China added to Samsung’s woes as it lost ground to its US rival in Q4, falling to number three in the mainland smartphone market.

Fast-rising local maker Xiaomi remained on top, where it’s been since overtaking the South Korean electronics giant in Q3. Apple had a 10.9 per cent market share in Q4, while Samsung’s dropped to 9.8 per cent, according to Strategy Analytics. It was trailed closely by Huawei (9.7 per cent share) and Lenovo (9.1 per cent) in the quarter.

For the full year, Samsung maintained a slight edge over Xiaomi — 13.8 per cent vs 13.6 per cent. Apple was third with a 7.3 per cent share.

The research firm estimated Samsung shipped 58.5 million smartphones to China last year, Xiaomi shipped 57.8 million units and Apple shipped 31.1 million units.

Samsung had been the number one smartphone maker in China since 2011.

Strategy Analytics reported last week that Apple has tied with Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor for the first time since Q4 2011.

Apple shipped 74.5 million smartphones worldwide and captured a 19.6 per cent market share in the quarter, up from 17.6 per cent a year earlier, while Samsung grabbed the same share — falling from 29.6 per cent in Q4 2013.