The smartphone ecosystem is an ever-shifting environment, and regardless of who’s on top today, tomorrow might bring about drastic changes like the loss of the crown. It’s what happened to Nokia a few years back, and now Samsung might be in line for the same outcome.

After the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple saw skyrocketing sales, which allowed it for the first time to push Samsung aside from the number one spot. But being the tech behemoth that it is, Sammy recomposed itself and took back the first position.

It was, nevertheless, a great achievement for Apple, which only sells a handful of phone models, compared to Samsung, which offers gazillions.

Well, a new report brings information related to the first quarter of 2015 and reveals that once again Samsung has returned to being the number one in terms of global smartphone sales, which have reached the 82.8 million threshold (24.3% market share).

Coming in at number two, we find Apple with 61.6 million devices shipped out during the time period, which translates into 17.9% market share.

Microsoft and Sony are slowly losing the mobile battle

But the interesting part comes now. It appears that two giants of the tech world, Microsoft and Sony, have been pushed aside from the top 10 of global smartphone makers.

Instead, Chinese smartphone makers have popped up like mushrooms after the rain. Actually, aside from Samsung, Apple and LG (number 5), the other 7 remaining top makers are hailing from China.

After having acquired Motorola, Lenovo has become one of the world’s most prominent smartphone sellers, and now it is occupying the third position with 5.5% market share and 18.7 million units sold throughout the world.

The number 4 position is reserved for Huawei with LG following on its toes. Xiaomi, ZTE, Coolpad, TCL, and pretty obscure smartphone maker Vivo fill up the remaining seats.

It’s interesting how almost unknown device makers are starting to make an appearance in the global shipment numbers, and companies with prestige such as Microsoft and Sony are being pushed aside.

For its part, Microsoft is prepping to launch two flagship Lumia devices and two mid-range ones later in 2015, and Sony has just introduced the Xperia Z4 top-tier in Japan. Which didn't impress us very much.