Enlarge Image Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Despite not being as recognisable as Apple and Samsung, Huawei once agains proves itself to be a big player in the mobile game.

On Friday, the Chinese company announced the P9, a premium phone released in April, has sold over 9 million units worldwide.

Those sales helped Huawei retain its position in Q3 2016 as the global No. 3 phone brand, according to IDC Research, behind only Samsung and Apple. However, the gap between it and the top two spots is considerable -- Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6S units in one weekend last September, and Samsung's Galaxy S7 range hit a whopping 26 million in sales after 3 months.

The phone, more expensive than many of the company's midrange offerings, was sold around its Leica-branded dual cameras, a feature Apple has adopted in the iPhone 7 Plus.

Huawei's next big release will be the Mate 9, a 5.9-inch phablet the company announced earlier this month. It'll have dual cameras, 4GB of RAM and Huawei's new Kirin 960 processor.