Smartphone shipments to China totaled 109.8 million units in the first quarter of 2015, rising 17% from 93.6 million units a year earlier, according to Strategy Analytics. Xiaomi maintained first position, but Apple is rapidly closing the gap with a 12% market share in second place.

Xiaomi shipped 14.0 million smartphones and captured a 12.8% market share in China during the first quarter of 2015, Strategy Analytics indicated. Xiaomi has maintained the number one smartphone position in China for three quarters in a row, due to solid demand for its popular Redmi models.

However, Xiaomi's rapid growth is now coming to an end, and it has delivered negative sequential growth in China for the past two quarters, Strategy Analytics noted. By contrast, Apple is growing swiftly in China at the moment, Strategy Analytics said.

Apple shipped 13.5 million iPhones in China during the first quarter of 2015, holding its ranking as the number two smartphone vendor for the second straight quarter, Strategy Analytics indicated. Apple captured a 12.3% share of China's smartphone market in the first quarter, and it has narrowed the marketshare gap with Xiaomi to less than 1pp.

Apple's new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models are proving wildly popular with Chinese consumers and, if current trends continue, Apple could become China's largest smartphone vendor in the second half of 2015, Strategy Analytics believes.

In a separate research released by Strategy Analytics, the analyst firm noted that Samsung Electronics overtook Apple to recapture first position as the world's largest smartphone vendor by volume in the first quarter of 2015, when the global smartphone shipments grew 21% on year to 345 million units.

Samsung shipped 83.2 million smartphones worldwide and captured a 24% market share in the first quarter of 2015, down from 31% a year earlier, Strategy Analytics said. Apple's smartphone shipments totaled 61.2 million units during the quarter, with its market share reaching 18% compared with 15% during the same period in 2014.