Smartphone shipments in the China market were up 2% sequentially to 108 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, bringing China's total smartphone shipments for the year to 420 million units, according to IDC.

Xiaomi Technology beat rivals including Samsung Electronics, Huawei and Lenovo to become the top smartphone vendor in China in the fourth quarter with a 13.7% share, IDC added.

Apple ranked second with a 12.3% share, buoyed by the launch of iPhone 6 devices and its stepped-up cooperation with China-based telecom operators. Meanwhile, Huawei and Lenovo took the third and fourth positions, respectively, followed by Samsung with a 7.9% share.

In addition to marketing its smartphones at the home market and a number of overseas markets including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey and Mexico, Xiaomi aims to ramp up its shipments to the US and Europe in 2015, according to handset industry sources in Taiwan.

Xiaomi aims to ship 100 million smartphones in 2015 after seeing its shipments increase 327% on year to 61.1 million units in 2014, company chairman Lei Jun said earlier.