The Southeast Asian smartphone market, reversing several quarters of declines, edged up modestly in the second quarter of 2019, with Chinese vendors driving the growth, data from Canalys showed.

Shipments in the nine-country region increased 2 per cent year-on-year to 30.7 million units. Chinese brands boosted their market share to 62 per cent from 50 per cent in Q2 2018, shipping 19 million units in the latest quarter.

Samsung returned to growth after three quarters of declines, with shipments increasing 5 per cent to 7.7 million units. Oppo recorded its best-ever quarterly performance with 49 per cent growth, shipping 7.3 million units.

Vivo maintained its third position, shipping 4.1 million smartphones, while Xiaomi moved into fourth ahead of Huawei, shipping 3.7 million units. Realme entered the top five for the first time, on shipments of 1.6 million.

Canalys analyst Matthew Xie said the market is focused on the mid- to low-end segment, where brand loyalty is low. Sub-$200 models accounted for 75 per cent of all shipments.

In the five largest markets in the region, Samsung was the leader in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, while Oppo led in Indonesia and the Philippines.