Samsung Electronics Co. regained the top status in the global smartphone market in the first quarter of the year, even before the release of its latest Galaxy S8, data showed Saturday.

The South Korean tech giant sold about 7.9 million smartphones during the January-March period to account for a market share of 22.8 percent, the data compiled by industry tracker IDC showed. Its US archrival Apple Inc. came in second with a 14.9 percent share.

The latest figure marks a turnaround from the October-December period of 2016, when Apple stood as the No. 1 player. 

Samsung, struck by the suspension of the Galaxy Note 7 phablet, managed to take up 18.5 percent of the market in the fourth quarter of last year. The company suspended production of the ill-fated smartphone last year on reports around the globe that some of the products caught fire while charging.

Also, three Chinese vendors -- Huawei Technologies Co., Oppo and Vivo -- followed Apple and Samsung in the top five, with a combined market share of 22.4 percent in the first quarter this year, up from 18.7 percent tallied a year earlier.

Huawei led the pack with a 9.8 percent market share during the same period, nearly posting a double digit market share, the data showed.

Oppo followed with 7.4 percent market share and Vivo with 5.4 percent, according to the data. (Yonhap)