SAN JOSE: US technology company Apple has recently closed the gap on long-time smartphone market leader South Korea-based Samsung, according to experts' calculations on Thursday.

In the last quarter, Samsung sold 59.6 million smartphones and Apple 53.6 million of its iPhones, the analysis firm IDC estimated on Thursday. That brings the market shares of the two biggest vendors to 19.7% and 17.7%.

In the second quarter, Samsung and Apple were still separated by approximately four percentage points, according to IDC calculations. The decisive factor for the development in the past quarter was that Samsung's device sales fell by 8.4% year-on-year, while Apple sold 2.5% more iPhones than in the same period the previous year.

For years, it has been customary for Apple to take the top position in the market in the final quarter of the year after the presentation of new iPhone models. On an annual basis, however, Samsung is traditionally ahead.

In third place, the Chinese provider Xiaomi sold 2.4% more smartphones in the last quarter, according to IDC calculations, and had a market share of 13.7%.

The rising smartphone star of the year is the Chinese company Transsion, which has so far been active primarily in Africa and sold 35% more smartphones last quarter than a year earlier. With 26 million devices sold and a market share of 8.6%, Transsion came close to its better-known competitor Oppo.

 - dpa