Global smartphone shipments totaled 1.167 billion units in 2014 with Samsung and Apple to retain their first and second spot in worldwide smartphone shipments, according to TrendForce. Smartphone shipments saw a year-on-year increase of 25.9%, with combined shipments of Chinese brands reaching 453.4 million units, the research firm says. Chinese vendors thus managed to encompass almost 40% of the global shipments and represent six of the top ten smartphone brands worldwide.

2014 was a difficult year for Samsung as its market share dropped to 28% compared with 32.5% of the previous year. Nonetheless, Samsung retained its number one position.

In 2014, Apple maintained its high annual growth rate of 24.5%, which translates to 191.3 million units shipped worldwide for the entire year. With 16.4% market share, Apple was a solid number two in the worldwide smartphone rankings.

As for LG, its strategy of "promoting high quality products at low prices" paid off with strong market reception to its flagship smartphone models, ranging from G2/G2 Pro to the newest G3. LG was the dark horse of 2014 with its ranking jumped up to number four and annual shipment growth at 75.4% (70 million units shipped).

Lenovo officially completed its acquisition of Motorola from Google in the fourth quarter of 2014. With the merger finalized, Lenovo?s total shipments in 2014 exceeded 90 million units and its annual growth surpassed 100%. It ranked first place among Chinese smartphone vendors and third worldwide with its 7.9% global market share.

With the introduction of the Honor 6 model in 2014, Huawei wholly changed its strategy of using smartphone chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek for its high-end products. With approximately 70 million units shipped and an annual growth around 70%, Huawei was ranked number five in the 2014 worldwide smartphone shipments.

As for the smartphone makers with the best cost-performance products, the title goes to Xiaomi. Its flagship models cost around US$ 300 to US$ 350, but they match their high-end counterparts from international vendors in hardware specs. Since its rise in China during the latter half of 2011, Xiaomi has been able to more than double its growth each year. Its 2014 annual shipment growth exceeded 200% with 60 million units shipped, and at one point managed to edge out the leading vendors in China such as Samsung, Huawei, and Lenovo. Xiaomi ranked six worldwide in 2014.