The shipments of smartphones worldwide in the first quarter marked the smallest year-on-year growth on record, and Chinese smartphone makers Oppo Electronics Corp and vivo Mobile Communication Technology Co Ltd pushed out previous fourth and fifth place players Lenovo Group Ltd and Xiaomi Corp, a report said.

According to a report released by the research company International Data Corporation, vendors shipped a total of 334.9 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of this year, up slightly from the 334.3 million units in the same period last year.

The minimal growth this quarter is primarily attributed to strong smartphone saturation in developed markets, as well as a year-on-year decline from two market leaders Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the report said.