2013 can be called the year of the smartphone with their sales overtaking feature phone sales.

During the year, sales of smartphones accounted for 53.6% of the overall mobile phone sales according to data released by research firm Gartner.

In terms of handset brands, there's been a major shift with big names like HTC, BlackBerry (erstwhile Research In Motion) and Motorola not making it to the list of the top 10 handset vendors (by unit sales).

Wonder who were the world's top 10 mobile phone makers that pushed these giants out of the list? Read on to find out...

1. Samsung

Samsung sold 444 million mobile phones in 2013 with a 24.6% market share, a rise of 2.6 percentage points compared to last year when the South Korean giant sold 384 million mobile phones.

The company was at the pole position even in 2012.

2. Nokia

The Finnish handset giant that sold its devices business to Microsoft continued to be the second largest player clocking sales of 250.79 million mobile phone units in 2013.

Occupying a market share of 13.9%, a decline compared to 2012 when its share was 19.1%, Nokia witnessed an overall fall in sales numbers.

3. Apple

According to Gartner, Apple which only sells smartphones, was the third largest player, selling 150.78 million units of its iPhones in 2013.

The Cupertino giant had a market share of 8.3%. For context, the company sold 130.13 million smartphones in 2012.

4. LG

The other South Korean electronics giant registered a minor growth of 0.5 percentage points in market share to command 3.8% in 2013.

The company sold 69.02 million mobile phones, a rise compared to about 58 million units it sold in 2012.LG has moved up one position compared to last year.

5. ZTE

Chinese network equipment and devices major ZTE was the fifth largest mobile handset vendor.

The company sold 59. 89 million phones, commanding a 3.3% market share, and registering a decline of 0.6 percentage points.

It had sold 67.34 million phones, last year. Last year, ZTE was the fourth largest mobile phone maker.

6. Huawei

The other Chinese player, Huawei, witnessed an increase in the sales of its mobile phones. The company managed to sell 53.29 million units in 2013 with a market share of 2.9%.

It had sold 47.28 million phones in 2012.Huawei was the sixth largest mobile phone seller, even last year.

7. TCL

The Chinese multinational company that sells phones under the Alcatel brand name, sold 49.53 million units of mobile phones in 2013.

The company registered a market share of 2.7%. It had sold 37.17 million phones in 2012.

8. Lenovo

Lenovo has been recently in the news for acquiring Motorola handset business from Google. The company, which is a key player in the Chinese market, managed to sell 45.28 million mobile phones in 2013.

It has a market share of 2.5%, an increase compared to 2012 when its share was 1.6%. Lenovo is a new entrant in the top 10 displacing BlackBerry.

9. Sony

One of the major Android smartphone makers, Sony was among the tail-enders among mobile device makers in terms of unit sales.

The company just sold 37.59 million phones registering a market share of 2.1%, in 2013.

The Japanese giant had sold 31.39 million phones in 2012. Sony was not part of the top-10 list, last year.

10. Yulong

The Chinese device maker that sells phones under the Coolpad brand was the tenth largest mobile phone maker in terms of unit sales in 2013.

The company sold 32.60 million phones commanding a share of 1.8%. Yulong makes a surprise entry displacing ailing smartphone giant HTC.