Samsung has topped the world smartphones sales in the second quarter of 2016, according to statistics released by Gartner Inc.

The South Korean tech company has 22.3 percent of the total market share beating  its U.S. competitor, Apple to secure the number two spot in the market.

According to Gartner, global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 344 million units,  a 4.3% increase over the same period in 2015.

The report also reveals that overall, only five smartphone vendors from the top 10 showed growth. These were four Chinese manufacturers — Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and BBK Communication Equipment  and South Korean giant Samsung.

In addition, the decline in sales of feature phones by 14 per cent bolstered the decline in overall sales of mobile phones in the second quarter of 2016.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2Q16 as compared to 2Q15 (Thousands of Units)

Samsung saw sales of its Galaxy A and Galaxy J series smartphones compete strongly with Chinese manufacturers. Its new smartphone portfolio also helped Samsung win back share it recently lost in emerging markets, Authors of the report says.

According to Gartner ,Apple experienced a sales decline of 7.7% in the second quarter of 2016. Although Apple sales declined in North America (its biggest market) as well as in Western Europe

” Apple had its best performance in Eurasia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe regions in the second quarter of 2016, where iPhone sales grew more than 95 percent year on year.”

Among the top five smartphone vendors, Oppo exhibited the highest growth in the second quarter of 2016 at 129%, the report says.