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Will Huawei emerge as king of the hill? Local smartphone brands tipped to oust Apple, Samsung from top 5 in China in 2016

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Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun is shown at the launch of the Xiaomi 4 smartphone in Beijing, in this 2014 file photo. Xiaomi led the Chinese market last year with a 15.4 per cent share but is not a shoo-in to claim first place in 2016. Photo: Simon Song

Mainland Chinese mobile phone brands, for the first time, could squeeze their global competitors out of the top-five ranking of suppliers in the world’s largest smartphone market.

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The likely trend on the mainland this year would hurt several big-brand suppliers, including Korean giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, which sell handsets based on Google’s Android operating system.

“The Chinese makers of Android smartphones are very strong in their home market right now,” Neil Mawston, the executive director at technology consultancy Strategy Analytics, told the South China Morning Post.

Mawston expected Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi and three other Chinese brands to dominate the domestic smartphone market this year, despite lingering concerns about the sluggish economy.

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“ZTE stands a good chance of returning to the top five in China if it can expand its 4G smartphone portfolio with more models,” he said.

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