Smartphone shipments in the Chinese market increased by 2.7 percent during the second quarter of this year with shipments reaching around 149 million units, according to new data.

The data from Digitimes Research reveals that smartphone sales from local Chinese vendors - such as Huawei and Oppo - have contributed to the growth, which was primarily fuelled by low-cost and mid-end 4G-enabled devices. Meanwhile, high-end smartphone models from Samsung and Apple continued to witness a decline in sales during the second quarter of 2016.

Like Us on Facebook

Huawei managed to take the lead in the smartphone race with a 14 percent share in the second quarter, followed by Oppo with around 12.7 percent share. Vivo managed to take the third place with 11 percent share, followed by Xiaomi (10.4 percent) and Apple.

In the global smartphone market, Huawei remained in the third position behind Apple and Samsung after shipping a total of about 32.1 smartphone million units in the second quarter of 2016, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC). The IDC reported that international vendors shipped a total of 343.3 million smartphones worldwide in the second quarter of 2016.

"Outside of Samsung's Galaxy S7 flagship, a majority of vendors, including Apple, have found success with more affordable models compared to their flagship handsets," Research Manager Anthony Scarsella of IDC's Mobile Phones said. "As smartphone prices continue to drop and competition escalates at the high-end, vendors will need to continue to push 'flagship-type' devices at affordable price points to encourage upgrading on a more frequent basis. Chinese brands such as Huawei, OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi have witnessed success with this strategy by shipping premium styled devices that focus on the features that matter most to consumers, such as imaging, sound quality, and design."

TagsChina Smartphone Shipments Q2 2016, Chinese Smartphones News, Huawei, Oppo, vivo, Xiaomi, apple, Samsung