SEOUL -- Global smartphone market share of Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest maker of the smart device, dropped in the third quarter on rising Chinese rivals, including Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo, an industry data showed Tuesday.

Samsung's global smartphone sales were 73.21 million in the third quarter, making up 24.4 percent of the total, according to market tracker Gartner.

The South Korean company maintained the No 1 position, but its market share was down 7.7 percentage points from a year earlier.

The decline in Samsung's market share came as Chinese manufacturers increased their shares. Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo posted a global market share of 5.3 percent, 5.2 percent and 5 percent each, ranking third to fifth in the global smartphone market.

The combined share of the three Chinese companies was 15.5 percent in the third quarter, up 4.1 percentage points from a year earlier.

Among the three Chinese makers, Xiaomi was outstanding. The company's third-quarter smartphone sales were 15.77 million, quadrupling a 3.62 million smartphone sale in the third quarter of 2013.

The No 2 maker Apple sold 38.19 million smartphones during the quarter, up about 8 million from a year earlier. The iPhone maker's global market share was 12.7 percent.