"In the third quarter of 2015, Huawei had the best performance and garnered 16% of market share after assuming the leadership position in the previous quarter. Holding a 15.6% market share, Xiaomi stayed at the second place," says MIC Mobile Communications Team.

"Compared to Xiaomi and Huawei, however, Lenovo had a languid performance, falling out of the top five vendors with a 5.8% market share."

As for foreign branded vendors, Apple secured 10.2% thanks to the continuous sales of iPhone6/6 Plus and the launch of iPhone 6S/6S Plus, but market share of Samsung dropped to 6.5% in the quarter.

Meanwhile, after a loss in the second quarter of 2015, HTC was still not out of the red in the third quarter, but in view of the flagging smartphone market in China, the company has shifted part of its core business to the VR (virtual reality) industry. With early deployment, HTC may enjoy first-mover advantage over competitors.