Samsung Electronics Co. saw its presence in the Japanese smartphone market reach a four-year high in the second quarter, data showed Tuesday, helped by robust sales of the flagship Galaxy S8.

According to the data compiled by industry tracker Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics sold 700,000 units of smartphones in Japan over the April-June period, taking up 8.8 percent of the market to become the No. 3 player.

The figure marks a sharp rise from 3.8 percent posted in the second quarter of 2016.

US Apple Inc. stood as the leading player by selling 3.3 million units in the second quarter with its market share standing at 41.3 percent. Japan's Sony Corp. followed with 16.3 percent, or 1.3 million units.

Sharp Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. also held market shares of 6.3 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, over the cited period.

Samsung saw its market share at around 10 percent in Japan in mid-2013, but its presence gradually fell following the rise of Apple. The South Korean tech giant took up 3.4 percent of the market for all of 2016.

Industry watchers said the recovery of Samsung's sales is attributable to the market's positive responses on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. (Yonhap)