Smartphone shipments in China increased 5.8 per cent in Q3 to 112.3 million units, representing 31 per cent of the global total, according to DigiTimes Research.

Foreign handset makers accounted for 15 per cent of shipments during the quarter. Their combined shipments declined by nearly 37 per cent year-on-year to 17.1 million units.

DigiTimes Research attributed the overall market growth to smartphone subsidies, mostly for low-end models, from China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. The offers encouraged 2G and 3G subscribers to shift to 4G.

At end-November, China Mobile had 497 million 4G subscribers, China Telecom 113 million and China Unicom 94 million.

In terms of vendors, China-based vendor Oppo had a 19.9 per cent market share, followed by Vivo on 15.9 per cent, Huawei (12.1 per cent), Xiaomi (6.3 per cent), Gionee (5.5 per cent), LeEco (3.8 per cent), Meizu (3.7 per cent), ZTE (2.1 per cent), Coolpad (1.9 per cent), Lenovo (1.6 per cent) and Hisense (1.2 per cent).

Apple held a 9.3 per cent share, Samsung’s share was 5.1 per cent and HTC’s was 0.4 per cent.

The research firm forecasts Q4 smartphone shipments in China will reach 118.4 million units, with international brands accounting for 22.5 million units or 19 per cent of the total.