Apple surpassed local smartphone maker Xiaomi in the Chinese market for the three months ending February, holding 27.6 percent of the market.

It follows Xiaomi grabbing the top spot earlier in 2014 from Lenovo. Even though Xiaomi  is currently fifth in the overall smartphone shipments worldwide, it's sales inside China put around five million units above Lenovo.

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The iPhone 6 is the most popular device in the region; Xiaomi is second with the RedMi Note, followed by the iPhone 6 Plus in third. It does show a duopoly growing in China, where only Xiaomi seems to be able to fight against Apple.

Xiaomi has changed its plans when it comes to keynotes. Instead of not acknowledging Apple, it has started competing with the iPhone. The RedMi Note was a big push towards high-end buyers but came at $300 cheaper than the iPhone 6.

"There has been a strong appetite for Apple's products in urban China seen since the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and this has continued into Chinese New Year," said Kantar Worldpanel research chief Carolina Milanesi. "China Mobile's subscribers accounted for 59 percent of the 27.6 percent volume share recorded by iOS in the latest period."

Apple has seen similar success in other regions, including Europe, where iOS has not been the most popular in the past. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus open new doors for Apple due to the size changes, allowing more customers to buy into Apple's smartphones.

"In Great Britain, as Samsung prepared the channel for the arrival of the new flagships Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, sales of the Galaxy S5 grew slightly over the previous period and captured 8.7 percent of smartphone sales," said Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe business unit director Dominic Sunnebo, "keeping this model as the second best selling smartphone after the iPhone 6."

This year, Apple is planning to repeat the success with the launch of the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus and the 6C according to reports. The iPhone 6C will allow Apple to keep customers that want the smaller 4-inch display, and are not willing to pay the surplus for aluminum.