Seoul, Aug 7 (IANS): Samsung Electronics saw its market share decline in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) smartphone market in the second quarter of the year, a report has said, as Chinese brands expanded their presence.

The South Korean tech giant was the leading smartphone vendor with a 16 percent share in the April-June period, but its market share was down from 20 percent a year earlier, according to the latest report from industry tracker Counterpoint Research.

"The company boosted market spending at the start of the year, leading to good performance in Q1," said Yang Wang, a senior research analyst at Counterpoint Research. "However, sales trended down in Q2 due to production disruption in Vietnam following COVID-19. We expect further difficulty in early Q3."

Samsung was followed by Chinese brands, which beefed up their market shares significantly in the MEA region, reports Yonhap news agency.

Tecno Mobile, a phone maker under Transsion Holdings, was the runner-up with a market share of 13 percent in the second quarter, up from 7 percent a year ago, followed by Xiaomi whose market share rose to 11 percent from 3 percent a year earlier.

Itel and Infinix, both subsidiaries of Transsion, came in fourth and fifth with market shares of 10 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

The MEA smartphone market grew 35 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, though it shrunk 3 percent from a quarter earlier, Counterpoint Research data showed.

Smartphone sales in the Middle East slid 0.8 percent on-quarter but increased 34 percent from a year earlier. Africa saw a 3.9 percent on-quarter decline in smartphone sales but posted 36 percent on-year growth in the second quarter.

"Looking toward the rest of the year, we expect consumer demand to remain robust, especially in some Gulf Cooperation Council countries, where vaccination progress is leading the world," Counterpoint Research said.