Samsung snagged almost a quarter of India's smartphone market in the quarter ending September 2020, surpassing Xiaomi's 23 percent market share, estimates from marketing research company Counterpoint showed.

To put this into perspective, Samsung cornered 20 percent of the country's smartphone market in the third quarter last year, while Xiaomi commanded 26 percent.

Samsung's ascent has also displaced Shenzhen-based tech company Huawei Technologies from the top spot in the global smartphone orders in the third quarter this year, market research firm International Data Corp disclosed.

Huawei's global smartphone shipments were down by around 21 percent in Q3, the biggest year-on-year decline in shipments for the tech group on record, IDC added. Huawei had soared to No. 1 position in the previous quarter.

Xiaomi fell to third spot with a 13 percent market share. The company's Redmi 9 series enjoyed brisk sales in China and India. Apple, which dropped to fourth place, cornered only 11.8 percent of the market, which IDC linked to the month-long setback in the Phone 12's roll-out.

Based on data by market research company Canalys, Xiaomi sold 47 million smartphones in the third quarter, a 45 percent increase from a year earlier.  The global smartphone market narrowed 1 percent year-over-year in the July-September period, with orders falling 348 million units, but climbed 21 percent from the pandemic-hit second quarter.

For Apple's part, since it became the first American company to exceed $2 trillion in market value in August, the iPhone manufacturer has shed $450 billion on a 19 percent slump. Currently, worth $1.85 trillion, Apple is still the most valuable company in the U.S.

The volume of smartphones that Samsung shipped in Q3 this year rose 32 percent year-on-year, Counterpoint data showed. Samsung has gained from its recent strong push in online revenues and production of affordable handsets in recent months, Counterpoint analysts said.

Buyers abroad have been shifting from Huawei gadgets this year, in part because of the economic toll brought about by the pandemic outside of China, and also as a result of U.S. restrictions that meant Huawei devices can no longer use Google's popular smartphone apps.

Although Huawei fell to second spot this quarter, the company still shipped 40 percent of the entire 5G smartphone market.

Counterpoint believes that Latin America, Western Europe, and India bolstered Samsung's resurgence as the leading smartphone brand. Based on projections, Apple's volumes are likely to rebound in the fourth quarter with its 5G-enabled iPhone 12 models.