Samsung is under pressure ahead of the big Unpacked event for the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Z Flip.

According to Strategy Analytics, Apple shipped the most phones in the last three months of 2019, 70.7 million units to Samsung's 68.8 million units.Counterpoint Research, like Canalys, put Apple in first place

The surveyed companies were all in the same boat.

The different numbers from the research firms tell us that the iPhone 11, released last fall, was a huge success for Apple, and this conclusion is supported by Apple's own quarterly earnings report.

Samsung also shipped 296.5 units last year, sitting at the top of the global smartphone sales list. Apple finished the year with 196.2 million units, helped in large part by the iPhone 11's strong performance, but also by a late 2019 push.

However, the trend line does not look good for Samsung. In the fourth quarter of last year, Samsung shipped 69.3 million smartphones, compared to 68.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Apple, on the other hand, jumped from 65.9 million to 70.7 million units.

Cupertino carved out a market for success with its premium yet still affordable $699 iPhone model, a $399 iPhone SE successor rumored to be named the iPhone 9 in the first half of the year, and four new iPhones of various sizes in the fall 12 premium models, aiming to double that in 2020, when as many as five new iPhones in total are expected to be released.

However, Samsung has announced a number of its own phones, including the Galaxy S20 lineup, Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note 10 Lite, which will give the company more low-cost options.

According to data from several market analysis firms, Huawei shipped about 240 million phones last year, overtaking Apple in the smartphone sales race. Samsung shipped the most smartphones in all of 2019, maintaining its No. 1 position.

Is this good news for Huawei? Not until we look at the trends in the numbers.

While Huawei surpassed Apple in smartphone shipments for the full year, Q4 was particularly tough for Huawei; Strategy Analytics reported a drop from 60.5 million units to 56 million units.

According to Counterpoint Research, Huawei remains fairly strong in China, which accounts for 40% of mobile sales. China accounted for 60% of Huawei's total annual shipments and helped the company maintain a 16% share of the global smartphone market.

Indeed, Huawei can do without Google software in its home market, where Tencent's WeChat service (from messaging to mobile payments) is ubiquitous. However, there is no danger of Huawei losing its grip in other regions.

Huawei was placed on a U.S. government list of companies late last year and barred from licensing Google software and services on Android phones.

"Huawei is working on its own operating system, but Counterpoint reports that "it will be almost impossible to compete with Android outside of China."