New Delhi, May 3 (IANS): In a stark contrast to the previous year, global smartphone shipments have grown 11 per cent in first quarter of 2017, logging 375 million units, a new report said on Wednesday.

There was a two per cent decline in global smartphone shipment during the same quarter in 2016.

According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, the major factors driving growth this year will be the proliferation of LTE networks in emerging markets and the roll-out of Gigabit LTE networks in established markets. 

"The industry recorded its slowest smartphone growth in 2016, however, we estimate the smartphone segment will bounce back registering 6-8 per cent volume growth during 2017," said Jeff Fieldhack, research Director at Counterpoint Research, in a statement.

The top 10 brands contributed to almost 73 per cent of the smartphone volumes in first quarter.

The 'affordable premium' segment $300-$399 was the fastest growing smartphone segment during the quarter mainly driven by OPPO, vivo and Samsung A series smartphones.

"The $100-$199 segment is mainly driven by Samsung's J series, Huawei's Honor series, OPPO's A series and Xiaomi's Redmi series smartphones. Together these brands accounted for almost half of the volumes of the price segment," the report noted.

The $100-$199 price segment has quickly become the sweet spot across the prepaid developed and emerging markets, it said.

This segment accounts for one in three smartphones shipped globally, registering a healthy 28.8 per cent growth in the first quarter.

"Only three brands out of the top 10 clearly outgrew the overall market -- Huawei, OPPO and Vivo. These brands have reached dominant positions in their home market putting immense pressure on Samsung and Apple," said Shobhit Srivastava, Research Analyst.