Apple’s iPhones Surge Into First-Place Tie With Samsung

Apple Inc. captured the top spot in China’s smartphone market, vaulting it into a tie for global leadership for the first time since 2011 as booming sales of iPhones with larger screens helped it gain ground on Samsung Electronics Co.

Both companies shipped 74.5 million smartphones globally in the fourth quarter to grab 19.6 percent of the market each, Strategy Analytics Inc. said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. Lenovo Group Ltd. was third with a market share of 6.5 percent after its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.