According to IDC’s quarterly smartphone tracker, Samsung remained the top-selling smartphone manufacturer in Q4 2014 by a hair. The company shipped 75.1 million smartphones in Q4 2014, narrowly beating Apple’s 74.5 million. Nevertheless, this represented a drop of 11 percent compared to Q4 2013, while Apple increased its shipments by a staggering 46 percent. Particularly strong markets for Apple were the BRIC nations, which saw a sales increase of 97 percent. Meanwhile, China, Brazil and Singapore each saw a doubling of sales YoY.

Of course, the fastest-growing smartphone manufacturer remains China’s Xiaomi, which shipped 16.6 million units in Q4 2014, nearly tripling its shipments from the year before. The company was the fifth-largest smartphone manufacturer by IDC’s data, with Lenovo (24.7 million units shipped) and Huawei (23.5 million units) ahead. Despite the drop in the rankings, and a small drop in Q4 2014 shipments as compared with Q3 shipments, the company is expected to increase its market share and continue to compete throughout 2015.

Huawei’s success was attributed to its increased brand awareness and better customer experience, leading to higher sales of high- and mid-range smartphones. Huawei’s Honor line was also particularly successful. Lenovo’s move up to the third place was due to its strength in the sub-US$150 smartphone market and its acquisition of Motorola.

Other companies that are close to breaking into the Top 5 include LG and ZTE, both of which follow closely behind Xiaomi, according to IDC. Overall, there were 375.2 million smartphones shipped in Q4 2014, representing YoY growth of 28.2 percent.