China's smartphone shipments increased by four percent during the second quarter of this year, with the total volume reaching 109 million units from 105 million last year, according to new data.

The research, conducted by Strategy Analytics, shows that Huawei managed to hold on to the first place with over 19.1 million units (18 percent market share), followed by the fast-rising Oppo with 15.2 million units (about 13.9 percent market share).

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On the other hand, Vivo took the third place and climbed from 7.8 million to 13 million units from the second quarter of 2015 to the second quarter of 2016. This time, Vivo captured about 12 percent of the smartphone market share in China as compared to its 7.4 percent in 2015.

Furthermore, the data shows that tech giant Apple fell behind in the Chinese smartphone market, dropping from third place to the fifth place last quarter, while Xiaomi took up the fourth place with an 11.7 percent market share. Vendor shipments by Xiaomi also dropped from 19.5 million units down to 12.8 million.

"Apple posted a soft quarter in China, maintaining the fifth position with a 7 percent smartphone market share in Q2 2016, down from 9 percent a year ago," said Linda Sui, the Director of Strategy Analytics. "Mixed demand for the iPhone 6s, overstocked volumes in the channel from previous quarters, as well as stronger competition from Huawei, OPPO and others were among the key factors for its lackluster performance."

China remains the largest smartphone market in the world and accounts for almost one in three of the total number of smartphones shipped worldwide this quarter.

TagsChina smartphone news, China Smartphone Shipments Q2 2016, Chinese Smartphone Manufacturers, Huawei, Oppo, vivo, Xiaomi, apple