Research firm IDC recently released its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report, which made for interesting reading, particular for Chinese manufacturers. During the first three months of the year, an estimated 334.9 million smartphone shipments were made, seeing only a slight year-on-year increase from Q1 2015 of 334.3 million. IDC attributes this to a smartphone saturation in developed markets. 

More significant though, is the change in the top five manufacturers. According to IDC's figures, it sees Lenovo and Xiaomi drop out of the top five manufacturers worldwide, being replaced by Oppo and vivo. 

The latter is perhaps the most intriguing arrival into the top five, especially as the company was only founded in 2009. While its status in South Africa is relatively unknown, the company's visibility is on the way up, with their recent sponsorship of the IPL (Indian Premier League) and appearance in Captain America: Civil War (review) serving as indicators.

With Oppo and vivo claiming fourth and fifth place with 18.5 and 14.3 million shipments in Q1 2016 respectively, the rest of the top five saw Samsung ranking first with 81.9 million shipments, Apple second with 51.2 million and Huawei in third with 27.5 million. 

Despite there being a shake up in the top five, it still sees three Chinese manufacturers take positions three to five. Their ability to rank in the top five results from delivering on well-priced smartphones, according to IDC's senior research manager, Melissa Chau. "Now Huawei, OPPO, and vivo, which play mainly in the sub-US$250 range, are positioned for a strong 2016. These new vendors would be well-advised not to rest on their laurels though, as this dynamic smartphone landscape has shown to even cult brands like Xiaomi that customer loyalty is difficult to consistently maintain."