New Delhi, Mar 11 (IANS): India was the largest feature phone market in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing 38 per cent of the global feature phone shipments, a new report said on Thursday.

iTel, a phone brand under Transsion Holdings, was the largest feature phone maker with a global market share of 22 per cent.

Samsung was the second-largest feature phone vendor in India with an 18 per cent share -- behind iTel, which had a 20 per cent share, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research.

Globally, Samsung was the fourth-largest feature phone seller in the fourth quarter. The South Korean giant had an 8 per cent share in the global feature phone market in the October-December period, down from 10 per cent a quarter ago.

Finnish phone maker HMD Global was third with 17 per cent market share while another Transsion brand, Tecno Mobile, came in fourth with 10 per cent share.

Global feature phone shipments grew 9 per cent quarter-on-quarter to over 80 million units in the fourth quarter, but declined 24 per cent compared to a year earlier.

When it comes to the smartphone sector, Samsung was the world's second-largest vendor with a market share of 16 per cent in the fourth quarter, trailing behind Apple which logged a 21 per cent market share.

Samsung led smartphone markets in Latin America and the MEA region but came in second in North America and Europe behind Apple, the data showed.