Global smartphone shipments reached 334.9 million units in the first quarter of 2016, up slightly from the 334.3 million units shipped a year earlier, marking the smallest on-year growth on record, according to IDC.

The minimal quarterly growth was primarily attributed to strong smartphone saturation in developed markets, as well as a year-over-year decline from both Apple and Samsung, IDC said.

The biggest change to the market, however, was the addition of lesser-known China-based brands Oppo and Vivo, which pushed out previous fourth and fifth place players Lenovo and Xiaomi Technology, respectively.

Samsung remained the leader in the worldwide smartphone market despite an on-year decline of 0.6% in shipments. Despite the slight decline, the new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge sold vigorously March and was helped by numerous enticing carrier promotions to help push volume.

Apple's saw its' first-ever on-year decline in the first quarter as volumes slipped to 51.2 million units, down 16.3% from a year earlier.

Huawei's continued domestic dominance, combined with a growing presence outside of China, enabled it to capture the number 3 position worldwide with shipments totaling 27.5 million units in the first quarter, up 58.4% on year.

Oppo shipped 18.5 million smartphones in the first quarter, up 153.2% on-year, the strongest among the top 5 vendors.

Vivo shipped 14.3 million units in the first quarter, increasing 123.8% on year. However, Vivo remains in tight competition with the other top-10 players, IDC said.