Samsung Electronics Co. regained the top spot in the European smartphone market in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, on the back of robust sales of its new handsets.

The South Korean tech giant represented 32 percent of smartphone sales in Europe in the January-March period, up 2 percentage points from a year earlier, and beat its US rival Apple Inc., which settled for 28 percent, according to market tracker Counterpoint Research.

Samsung was in the runner-up spot with 29 percent in the fourth quarter, with Apple leading with 30 percent.

Samsung's smartphone sales in Europe grew 13 percent on-year in the first quarter, Counterpoint Research said.

China's Xiaomi was the No. 3 player with an 18 percent market share, followed by Oppo with 6 percent. Huawei took fifth spot with a market share of 4 percent, down from 15 percent a year earlier, as its sales plunged 75 percent.

Overall, the European smartphone market grew 6 percent on-year in the first three months of 2021, supported by new device launches from major brands.

"January saw Apple as the clear leader following its most successful device launch ever," Counterpoint Research said. "Samsung rebounded in February on the back of strong sales of its latest flagship Galaxy S21 series and popular Galaxy A series; and then Xiaomi reached its highest market share in Europe ever in March thanks to the launch of its own flagship Mi11 devices."

The market researcher predicted that the European smartphone market could make a full recovery this year and will likely to see "increased competition" among vendors. (Yonhap)