Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's top smartphone maker, managed to stay on the top 10 list of global tech players this month in terms of market capitalization but suffered a one notch decline from end-2014 apparently due to a plunge in earnings.

Samsung ranked No. 10 among other major tech firms with a market cap of US$189.7 billion as of May 1, according to the figures compiled by the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion, which cited S&P Capital IQ. It marked a step down from last year despite increasing its cap from $178 billion.