Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi overtook South Korean tech giant Samsung to become the smartphone sales leader in China in 2014, according to statistics posted online by a research director of the China Division of the global market research firm IHS iSuppli.

Xiaomi sold a total of 60.8 million units in China last year, accounting for 14.97 percent of the domestic market share, according to the IHS iSuppli statistics.

Earlier, Xiaomi had announced it actually sold 61.12 million units, up 227 percent from 2013.

Samsung ranked 2nd in sales volume in the Chinese market despite the fact that its large-sized Galaxy Note series faced a strong challenge from Apple's iPhone 6 plus in the fourth quarter of the year. The company sold 58. 4 million units overall in 2014.

Lenovo, which completed its purchase of Motorola from Google last October, sold 47.3 million smartphones domestically.

The top nine smartphone makers sold a combined volume of 365.5 million units in China, accounting for 90.02 percent of the domestic market share.

The other vendors sold only 40.5 million gadgets in the country, taking up less than 10 percent of the market.

Seven of the top nine smartphone sellers are from the Chinese mainland, showing Chinese brands offer the most cost-effective handsets welcomed by domestic consumers.

Following are the top nine best-selling smartphone makers in Chinese market.

  ZTE

 

Sales in China:18.2 million

Market share:4.48 percent