Chinese smartphone makers are closing the gap in global market share between themselves and the two giants of the industry, Samsung and Apple.

Chinese firms Huawei, Oppo and Vivo all saw their market share expand for the July to September period.

Market share contracted for both Samsung Electronics and Apple during the same period.

Strategy Analytics, a market tracking firm, reported Thursday Samsung posted its lowest growth in two years, mainly in connection to a damaged brand image over the Galaxy Note 7 recall.
 
Samsung does continue to enjoy the top position globally, with 20 percent of the world's smartphone market share.

Apple's global share has slipped from 13-point-six to 12-point-one percent.