Best Of The Best

Smartphone sales were up 29 percent in the first quarter, with 281.5 million devices being shipped by vendors compared to 218.8 million in the year-ago quarter, according to International Data Corp. (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

With strong demand from "emerging markets, low-cost devices and the proliferation of 4G networks," the results bested IDC's forecast of 267.2 million phone sales by 5.3 percent.

All five of the top sellers saw an uptick in shipment volume as there were 62.7 million more phones sold this quarter than the first quarter last year. With a number of high-profile phone releases and growing international markets, here's a look at who had the best start to 2014.