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US smart phone magnate Apple suffered a waterloo in China's mobile market in Q1 as the top-four handset makers - Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi - secured a 53-percent combined market share, statistics released by Counterpoint Research shows.

In a report quoted by Bloomberg Wednesday, the Hong Kong-based market researcher said iPhone shipments in May dropped by 1.2 percent year on year in China's mainland, while its sales in Greater China fell 26 percent in Q1 compared to a year earlier.

Meanwhile, competition between China's four largest smart phone makers is toughening up, as they scramble for a bigger share of the world's largest smart phone market.

Statistics from research firm Strategy Analytics shows that Huawei shipped 16.6 million smart phones in Q1, taking the lion's share of China's smart phone market.

OPPO ranked the second in Q1 with shipments hitting 13.2 million. Xiaomi came in third place with 12.8 million while Vivo shipped 12.5 million units. Apple's shipments were 11.5 million.