Samsung Electronics saw its stake in the global smartphone market grow in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter, helped by brisk sales of the Galaxy 7 series.

The world’s largest smartphone maker had a 27.8 percent global market share in terms of shipment, according to industry tracker TrendForce.

That reflected a rise from the 22.1 percent posted in the final three months of 2015, according to data compiled by industry tracker TrendForce.

At the same time, U.S.-based Apple Inc. had a 14.4 percent share, down from the 20.9 percent posted in the previous quarter, according to the data.

Industry watchers said Samsung’s strong performance came in line with robust shipments of the Galaxy S7 series released in March. First-quarter sales of the flagship series is estimated at 10 million.

China-based Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi took up 9.3 percent, 5.8 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, the data also showed.

LG Electronics, Samsung’s smaller South Korean rival, stood at sixth place with a 5.1 percent share, up from 4.5 percent in the previous quarter.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)