US tech giant Apple shipped 77.3 million smartphones worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2017, an industry tracker said, overtaking Samsung Electronics in the global market.

Apple captured first place with 19.3 percent global market share, nudging Samsung into second place, Strategy Analytics said in a report.

The industry tracker said there was robust demand for the iPhone X, though global iPhone volumes have been on the decline on an annual basis for five of the past eight quarters.

Samsung Electronics dipped 4 percent annually and shipped 74.4 million smartphones for 18.6 percent market share worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2017, up slightly from 18 percent market share a year ago.

Chinese tech giant Huawei maintained the third position with 10.2 percent global smartphone market share in the fourth quarter.