China’s smartphone market picked up steam in Q4, expanding 19 per cent from a year ago, according to IDC. In Q3 growth slowed to 11 per cent.

Smartphone shipments hit 107.5 million units last quarter and 420.7 million for the full year – up 20 per cent from 2013.

Xiaomi took the top position for the full year, with a 12.5 per cent share – up from 5.3 per cent a year ago. Its shipments expanded 187 per cent last year. Apple jumped to second place in Q4 (12.3 per cent share) with the launch of the iPhone 6, but it wasn’t in the top five in 2014.

Samsung slipped from first to second in 2014, as its share fell from 18.7 per cent in 2013 to 12.1 per cent. Unit sales were down 22.4 per cent. For Q4, its shipments plunged 49 per cent and market share dropped to just 7.9 per cent, putting it in fifth place for the quarter.

Lenovo was third last year, with shipments increasing 13.7 per cent, but its market share dropped slightly to 11.2 per cent. Huawei, despite shipments rising 27 per cent, remained fourth with a 9.8 per cent share.

Coolpad dropped from third to fifth in 2014, as its share fell from 10.7 per cent to 9.4 per cent. Shipments increased just 4.6 per cent.

IDC said that although 3G phone shipments were affected by the reduction in operators’ subsidies, brisk sales of 4G phones enabled the market to expand strongly during the quarter.

While the share of phones sold through operators dropped, the number of phones sold through e-tailers increased due to the popularity of platforms such as jd.com and tmall.com, it said.

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology said a month ago that smartphone shipments fell 8 per cent to 389 million units last year.

Tay Xiaohan, a senior market analyst at IDC, said there is still room for further growth in China, with IDC forecasting the market to expand 10 per cent this year.

“With the reduction in operator subsidies, operator-centric vendors in the past such as ZTE, Huawei and Coolpad have increased their shipments online through direct sales as well as through e-tailers. They have established online brands for this purpose.”