[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics' share of the Chinese smartphone market for the second quarter continued to be low at 3 percent, data showed on July 26.

According to the data compiled by Counterpoint Research, Chinese smartphone makers took up 87 percent of their home market in the April-June period. The top four brands -- Huawei Technologies, OPPO Electronics, Vivo Mobile Communications, and Xiaomi -- took up 69 percent, it added.

“Huawei and Vivo were the fastest-growing brands followed by OPPO and Xiaomi, together cementing the top four spots and extending their lead over Apple and Samsung by a wide margin,” the researcher said.

Following the strong dominance of Chinese players, Samsung, a major global smartphone maker, managed a poor showing in the April-June period, down from 7 percent posted a year earlier.

Apple accounted for 8.2 percent over the period, standing almost unchanged from last year.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)