(Yicai Global) May 29 -- China's Huawei Technologies has once again beaten Apple with the world's second-biggest smartphone shipments in the first quarter.

Huawei's tally rose 45 percent from the previous year to 58.4 million shipments, market research firm Gartner said in a report yesterday. California's Apple logged a figure of 44.6 million units. Samsung Electronics led with 71.6 million.

The Shenzhen-based firm's global market share has grown to nearly 16 percent from 11 percent, the report added. 

Editor: Emmi Laine