Two pedestrians walk past a Vivo Mobile Communication Technology Co Ltd poster in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. [Photo/China Daily]

Chinese smarphone vendors were an industrial driving force last year, reaching record volumes for global shipments, research has found.

According to Counterpoint Technology Market Research, global shipments of smartphones in 2016 reached nearly 1.5 units.

Chinese brands accounted for one third, shipping 465 million units around the globe.

Producing more than three quarters of all phones shipped in 2016, companies Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Gionee were the highest selling.

The research also noted that the market's polarization of growth was more distinct this year as the leading brand Oppo witnessed a 109 percent increase from the year before, while Lenovo suffered an 80 percent slump.

Research director James Yan said: "The final quarter of the year was marked with a series of flagship upgrades from key brands such as Apple, Oppo, Huawei and Xiaomi which catalyzed the smartphone demand in China, healthier than last year."

Yan said the Chinese smartphone market saw a continuous rise in shipments as OEMs also began to fill channels ahead of the Chinese New Year season.

"In terms of features, key focus remained on proliferation of smartphones with fingerprint sensors, 4G+/VoLTE ready, fast-charging, OLED displays, improved battery life, adoption of dual-rear-cameras and higher megapixel front-camera for selfies," Yan added.

Another global research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has also found similar trends.

According to IDC, the new trend "shows the growing local acceptance of Chinese vendors in its home country with the improvement in product features and better marketing messages seen in the past year".

IDC senior market analyst Tay Xiaohan said: "Increased dependence on mobile apps has led consumers to seek phone upgrades, thus helping drive the large growth in the fourth quarter of 2016. In lower tiered cities, there was a similar demand by consumers, which OPPO and vivo met by aggressively pushing mid-range smartphones in these cities."

The company also pointed out another key trend in 2016 was the slowdown of the growth of online channels in China.

"Most brands are now using a combination of channels to increase their shipments," IDC noted.

"Xiaomi, previously focused on online channels, has opened more Mi Home stores to drive offline growth and Apple has also been aggressive in increasing its offline retail presence, while to differentiate itself from OPPO and vivo, who predominantly target young users, Gionee has been targeting professionals and executives, and hence found a niche market for itself to stand out against its two competitors."