China acquired the biggest share of smartphone shipments in the global market in the second quarter, as the nation accounted for 27 percent of the world's 158 million smartphone shipments, according to a report issued by analyst firm Canalys.

More than 42 million smartphones were shipped to in China in the second quarter of this year, the report said. It demonstrated a phenomenal growth of 199 percent year-on-year and 32 percent over the previous quarter.

It also represented the second consecutive quarter of record-breaking volume in a single country, the report said. The United States gained 16 percent of the global smartphone shipments in the period, ranking second.

Growth in China was heavily driven by domestic vendors, while international vendors struggled to keep pace.

While Samsung maintained its overall leadership position in China with a 17 percent market share, this reduced sequentially as volumes were flat and as several local vendors closed the gap. ZTE, Lenovo and Huawei were the second-, third- and fourth-place vendors, ahead of Apple, making up a third of the market.

They achieved growth of 171 percent, 2,665 percent and 252 percent year-on-year.

Collectively, domestic Chinese vendors shipped 25.6 million units, representing a growth of 518 percent and 60 percent of the market.