Apple beat Samsung Electronics in Asian smartphone market share in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Hong Kong’s Counterpoint Research.

Apple had a 16 percent market share in Asia, ahead of Samsung by 3 percentage points.

Apple’s market share in North America was much stronger, hitting 38 percent compared to Samsung’s 24 percent.

However, Samsung had a higher market share in the Middle East and Africa (31 percent) compared to Apple (10 percent).

In South America, Samsung’s market share was 22 percent while Apple’s was 9 percent.

The two companies almost tied in Europe, but Samsung led slightly higher (28 percent) compared to Apple (25 percent).

Counterpoint Research said that Apple and Samsung’s overall global market share in the fourth quarter were 20 percent and 19 percent, respectively.