China-based second-tier smartphone vendors, including Vivo, Oppo and Gionee, managed to continue ramping up their shipments in 2015 despite dwindling demand and industry consolidation in the local market, according to China-based Beijing Business Today report.

Oppo saw its total smartphone shipments grow 67% on year to over 50 million units in 2015, said the paper, which also noted that Oppo and Vivo took the eighth and ninth positions in the global top-10 smartphone vendor rankings in 2015 with a 3.8% and 3.3% share, respectively, citing data from TrendForce.

The number of exclusive retail shops set up by the three vendors in the third- and fourth-tier cities in China is larger than those established by the leading brands such as Samsung Electronics and Huawei, said the paper.

Citing data from Sino Market Research, sales of smartphones in the China market totaled 33.57 million units in February 2016, decreasing 3.4% from a year earlier. However, shipments from Oppo grew 524,000 units to 4.554 million units in the month, while Vivo saw its shipments gain 610,000 units to 4.44 million, and Gionee's shipment increased 160,000 units to 1.67 million.

Meanwhile, Vivo, Oppo and Gionee have been focusing more on high-end models to boost their profits. Vivo launched its Vivo Xplay 5 recently, priced at over CNY4,000 (US$617), while Oppo also released recently the Oppo R9 and R9 Plus, priced at CNY2,799 and CNY3,299, respectively.