Google and Microsoft mobile operating systems encountered a significant growth during 2013 as nearly one billion handsets were shipped throughout last year.

According to Canalys, 998 million mobile handsets were shipped in 2013, which is a 44 percent increase from 2012's figures. The mobile handsets shipped last year were boosted by fourth quarter sales as 292.8 million smartphones were shipped.

When it comes to the mobile operating systems, Microsoft's Windows Phone was named the fastest growing platform based on a year-to-year increase from 2012's fourth quarter. Canalys noted Windows Phone grew by 69 percentage points, which is an impressive feat despite a decline of 6 percent during the third quarter of 2013. The Microsoft Windows Phone performance outperformed BlackBerry for third place. Microsoft saw its handset shipments rise by 90 percent during 2013. Overall, 32.1 million Microsoft devices were shipped, which were namely Nokia Lumia smartphones.

"The soft end to the year stopped Microsoft from achieving still more positive growth,' said Shanghai-based Canalys Analyst Jingwen Wang. "Market uncertainty and caution affected Nokia's performance in [fourth quarter], with Microsoft's acquisition of its devices business yet to complete, as did arguably insufficient marketing, as Nokia and Microsoft failed to stimulate sufficient demand for the latest Lumia products to deliver a seasonal sales boost."

Samsung maintained as the world's top smartphone leader. Samsung's increased its market share by 2 percentage points from 2012 to 2013. Samsung finished 2013 with 32 percent of the market share. Samsung easily defeated Microsoft's shipments with the latter accounting for 3 percent of the market share.

Apple placed second despite shipping 154 million units during 2013. Apple's market share grew during the fourth quarter of 2013 from 13 percent to 17 percent.

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