Apple overtook Samsung to become the world's largest smartphone maker in the fourth quarter. According to Juniper Research, almost 25 percent of the estimated 149 million smartphones shipped in Q4 were iPhones. Samsung still managed to grow its market share four-fold since Q1 2010, from 4.7 to 21.7 percent. The market researcher said that Samsung's rise is forcing Apple to continue offering older models to keep ahead. While Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4Ss within three days of launch, the company's return to the top spot was partly driven by continuing to offer the iPhone 3GS, first launched in 2009, at rock-bottom prices. Juniper believes this an effort to shore-up its defences again a bombardment of standard and premium smartphones from Samsung. HTC was the only other top-five manufacturer to see significant year-on-year growth. Juniper estimates that the company shipped 12.1 million smartphones in Q4. Blackberry-maker RIM's shipments remained steady year-on-year at 14.4 million, down just 0.7 percent.
