Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday said its fourth-quarter profit likely fell 37.4 percent, confirming expectations for its first year of profit decline since 2011 as it struggles to retain its crown as global smartphone leader.

The South Korean tech giant lost market share for three consecutive quarters up to July-September, and analysts say the trend likely continued in the October-December period thanks to competition from Apple Inc's new iPhones and cheaper Chinese rivals like Xiaomi Corp.

Samsung said its fourth-quarter operating profit is likely to be 5.2 trillion won ($4.74billion), beating a mean forecast of 5 trillion won from a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S survey of44analysts.