Samsung Electronics regained the lead in the global market share of smartphones in the first quarter of the year on the back of strong sales of its Galaxy S23 models.

According to market analysis provider Canalys on Wednesday, Samsung claimed 22 percent of the global market, one percentage point ahead of rival Apple.

Apple had taken the top spot with 25 percent in the fourth quarter of last year following the release of the iPhone 14, with Samsung trailing at 20 percent.

While Canalys said Samsung is the only leading smartphone maker to recover from the previous quarter, the gap between the two rivals narrowed from six percentage points in the first quarter of last year to one percentage point for the same period this year.

Meanwhile, China's Xiaomi held eleven percent of the global market share in the January-to-March period, followed by Oppo at ten percent and Vivo at eight percent.