“Most of the industry expected an extremely strong holiday quarter from Apple, especially with regards to the iPhone. However, worldwide shipments of 74.5 million units beat everyone’s expectations,” said Ryan Reith, program director with IDC’s worldwide quarterly mobile phone tracker, in a statement.

“Beyond the record-setting quarter, a few impressive things stand out with regard to Apple. First, at a time when average selling prices (ASPs) for smartphone are rapidly declining, Apple managed to increase its reported ASPs in the fourth quarter due to higher-cost new models. Second, the growth of iPhone sales in both the U.S., which is considered a saturated market, and China, which presents the dual challenges of strong local competitors and serious price sensitivity, were remarkable. Sustaining this growth and higher ASPs a year from now could prove challenging, but right now there is no question that Apple is leading the way.”

Three Chinese vendors rounded-out the top five in Q4. Lenovo was a distant third ahead of Huawei, moving up the rankings with the completion of its Motorola acquisition. Xiaomi fell from the third position to fifth, beating out LG.