Worldwide smartphone shipments are exceeding initial expectations courtesy of emerging markets and China.

According to technology development and analysis firm TrendForce, global smartphone shipments improved during the first quarter of 2014 by 1.13 percent in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2013.

"The [first quarter of 2014 (Q1)] momentum came mostly from the emerging market sectors and China," noted TrendForce's Assistant Vice President of Memory Research Division Avril Wu. "The Chinese smartphone manufacturers' increased 4G smartphone production is key to the smartphone industry higher than anticipated Q1 growth."

For the second quarter of this year, global smartphone shipments are projected to benefit more from the emerging markets' demand by 6.7 percentage percent compared to the first quarter of 2014. With the 6.7 percentage point increase, smartphone shipments could hit 284.5 million units worldwide, which is an increase from 266.9 million shipped in the first quarter. China's smartphone shipment growth is estimated to grow by approximately 13.76 percentage points for the second quarter of 2014 from its preceding quarter.

The global smartphone shipments are expected to increase as major brands are expected to release respective flagship devices ahead of Apple's next iPhone.

According to Trendforce, Samsung has led the smartphone brands market share during the first quarter due to their low to mid ranged smartphone shipments. Samsung was given 34.9 percent of the total worldwide shipments in the first quarter of 2014, which is an increase from 31.8 percent during 2013's fourth quarter.

Apple's shipments slipped but easily maintained its second place position. Apple previously accounted for 19.4 percent of the shipments during the fourth quarter of 2013, but garnered 13.6 percent in the first quarter this year.

"Apple's new iPhones and shipment momentum are not expected to appear until the second half of 2014, hence the company experienced a noticeable decline in its worldwide market share and finished in second," noted TrendForce.

The combination of Lenovo and Motorola held third place with 7.5 percent ahead of Huawei's 5.2 percent. LG rounded up the top five smartphone brands with 4.4 percent. China's Xiaomi accounted for 4 percent of the top smartphone brands market share, enough for seventh place, while Gionee concluded the top 10 with 2.3 percent.

China's growing smartphone shipments are not solely based on the global brands but from local manufacturers. Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi have experienced quarterly growth by over 20 percentage points in China.

The TrendForce report added, "By utilizing appropriate strategies, the three Chinese companies managed to improve their shipments significantly in only a matter of years, and were able to lead their competitors in terms of economies of scale."

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