Global smartphone sales in Q4 2012 were a record 208 million, up 38 per cent over the same period in 2011, according to Gartner.

However, total worldwide mobile phone sales of 1.75 billion in 2012 represented a 1.7 per cent decline, said the research firm. The last time total annual sales fell was in 2009.

While Samsung and Apple continued to dominate the smartphone market, Huawei showed its ambition to establish itself as their main rival with its Q4 performance. For the first time, it grabbed the third spot.

Overall, the Chinese vendor sold 27 million smartphones in 2012, a 74 per cent increase over its performance the previous year.

Yet Samsung and Apple still dominate the marketplace and actually increased their positions. Their combined market share was 52 per cent of smartphone sales in Q4 compared to 46 per cent in Q3.

Samsung ended last year in top spot for both smartphone and featurephone sales.

While smartphone sales experienced a record quarter in Q4 2012, featurephone sales were weak. Sales of such devices were 264 million in the fourth quarter, a 19 per cent fall year-on-year.  Featurephone sales are expected to keep falling in 2013.

Gartner predicts smartphone sales this year will be “close to one billion units”. Overall, it says total mobile phone sales will reach 1.9 billion units in 2013, which would represent a return to growth after the sales decline in 2012.

Huawei’s intent was clear at CES 2013 with a number of product announcements for the smartphone market, including devices aimed at the high-end, such as the Ascend D2 and Mate.