Five years ago the smartphone market was dominated by western and South Korean firms. In Q3 2010 Nokia was the market leader, followed by Samsung, LG and BlackBerry, with Apple breaking into the top-five ranking for the first time.

That quarter Sony Ericsson missed the top-5 list for the first time since IDC started tracking mobile phone shipments and the following year Motorola dropped from the top 10.

Fast forward five years and three Chinese firms are consolidating their positions in the top five. Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo were the third, fourth and fifth largest smartphone makers in the world, according to TrendForce. The three saw their combined market share edge up to 19.8 per cent in Q3 from 18.6 per cent in Q2, while both Samsung and Apple lost share (see chart, click to enlarge). Samsung’s share fell 2.1 points to 24.6 per cent and Apple’s slid 1.7 points to 13.7 per cent.

global smartphone Q3The Chinese vendors’ shipments increased 16.3 per cent; Samsung’s fell 1 per cent during the period.

Huawei, which plans to step up its focus on the premium market and gradually pull out of the low-end segment, has seen the strongest growth and had an 8.4 per cent market share (up from 7.5 in Q2). Its shipments increased 39 per cent in H1 to 48.2 million units.

TrendForce expects the company’s shipments this year to expand by more than 40 per cent, with overall industry growth forecast at less than 10 per cent.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi’s spectacular growth last year has lost some steam as its global share fell slightly to 5.7 per cent in Q3. Its shipments are predicted to rise just 14.6 per cent this year and likely to fall short of its revised 80 million target, which was reduced in July from 100 million. Last year its shipments jumped 227 per cent.

Lenovo also gained share (enjoying 5.7 per cent, on a par with Xiaomi) and moved into the fifth position from sixth in Q2. Its annual shipments are expected to hit 70 million units this year, with stronger growth forecast next year after its corporate restructuring (integrating Motorola Mobility) is completed.

Due to slowing economic growth and a nearly saturated domestic market, smartphone growth in China has peaked, rising just 2 per cent year-on-year in Q2, while shipments expanded 44 per cent in India and 30 per cent in Indonesia. Almost half of the devices shipped in India were priced below $100, according to IDC. India is the third largest smartphone market after China and the US and is forecast to surpass the US in 2017.

A modest devaluation of the yuan should help the Chinese vendors stay competitive as wages continue to rise rapidly (over 6 per cent annually) despite the slowing economy.

But with fast rising stars in India, like Micromax and Intex, which are now the country’s number 2 and 3 players, as well as Indonesia’s second largest smartphone maker Evercross, it will be interesting to see how many Chinese firms are still in the top five at the end of the decade.

The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members.