San Francisco, Feb 16 (IANS): With a record 51 per cent revenue share, Apple took more than half of the global smartphone revenues in the fourth quarter of 2017, a report has said.

According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, total global smartphone wholesale revenues grew eight per cent annually to reach an all-time high of $120 billion during the fourth quarter of 2017.

"The smartphone industry's wholesale average selling price surged 18 per cent annually from $255 in fourth quarter of 2016 to $300 in fourth quarter of 2017," Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement late on Thursday.

Sui added that South Korean tech giant Samsung grew its global smartphone wholesale revenues by 16 per cent annually to $19 billion in fourth quarter of 2017.

Both Apple and Samsung's smartphone wholesale average selling price (ASP) grew strongly, rising 21 per cent annually to $254 in the quarter.

"The popularity of premium Note 8 and Galaxy S8 models, as well as fewer low-end sales in its core Asia markets such as China, drove the growth," Sui added.

The company is reportedly gearing up to introduce three new iPhones this year and one of them will be more popular than the others, a top analyst with Taiwanese business group KGI Securities said.

According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the most famous analyst with KGI Securities when it comes to Apple, the tech giant will aim to sell 100 million units of "a 6.1-inch iPhone it's planning to release this year".