A successful iPhone 6 launch in the U.S. helped Apple increase its share of the smartphone market in the third quarter, but nemesis Samsung Electronics struggled, with upstart Chinese manufacturers nipping at its heels and growing ever stronger.

Thanks to record sales in emerging markets and the popularity of Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, overall smartphones sales to end users grew 20.3 percent to reach 301 million units during the third quarter, market research company Gartner said in its “Market Share: Devices, All Countries, 3Q14 Update” report on Monday.

Samsung’s struggles continued unabated in the quarter. While the overall market grew, Samsung’s sales dropped by about 9 percent to 73.2 million units. That was enough for a 24.4 percent market share, which still makes it the largest vendor by a large margin.

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