One out of 2 smartphones to be sold in the global market is expected to be made by Chinese companies, posing a serious threat to current market leaders Samsung Electronics and Apple, a report showed Sunday.

A total of 1.29 billion smartphones were sold last year across the world in 2015, up 10.3 percent from a year earlier, according to tech market researcher DRAMeXchange.

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics accounted for 24.8 percent of the market share, followed by its U.S. archrival Apple with 17.5 percent.

Chinese smartphone brands made a significant improvement in sales worldwide in 2015 with cheaper, quality devices.

Huawei took up 8.4 percent, trailed by Xiaomi with 5.6 percent and Lenover with 5.4 percent. Their combined market share reached nearly 40 percent, it said.

The total number of smartphones sold by Chinese companies was slightly below the number of phones sold by Samsung and Apple, and it was expected to surpass the two big players this year on the back of their aggressive marketing and technology innovation, the researcher said. (Yonhap)