The success of the iPhone 4S and the free (with contract) iPhone 3GS that helped Apple truly dominate the smartphone market in the fourth quarter, according to the latest data from Juniper Research (http://www.juniperresearch.com/), as noted by “VentureBeat” (http://macte.ch/AmidV).

Apple’s 37 million iPhones shipped accounted for almost one-quarter of the 149 million smartphones shipped globally in the last quarter, the research firm said in its latest report. Apple took the top spot from Samsung last quarter, but Juniper also points out that Samsung’s market share jumped significantly in the last quarter, up to 21.7% from just 4.7% the previous year.

“Without the bump of a new iPhone release and the holiday shopping frenzy, Apple will likely see a major decline in smartphone shipments for this quarter,” says “VentureBeat.” “That means Samsung has a good chance to snatch back the No. 1 smartphone maker spot. Expect this see-saw to continue for the foreseeable future.”