Samsung Electronics Co.’s latest flagship smartphone Galaxy S9 ranked first in the list of best smartphones released in China in the first five months of this year by a Chinese media outlet.

The recognition is a morale boost to the world’s largest smarphone supplier which is more or less shunned in the Chinese market with a shamefully pitiful share of 1.3 percent.

Guangzhou-based daily newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily named Samsung’s Galaxy S9 the best smartphone among 10 devices released in the market from January to May. The phone received 139 points, followed by Xiaomi’s Mi 8 with 134 points and Huawei’s P20 with 128 points. The evaluation was made based on the combined scores from the newspaper’s self-review and tests by outside vendors.

The Galaxy S9 claimed the first spot in two categories including design and innovative features thanks to its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, glass body, four types of colors, AI-powered camera, face recognition and voice assistant. However, it lost to Huawei’s P20 that came with three lenses on the back in the camera segment.

It was a rare positive review for Samsung Electronics’ smartphones in the Chinese market in which the world’s biggest smartphone maker has been struggling over recent years due to Chinese rivals releasing cheap but high-quality products. Samsung has been rapidly losing its share in the market since 2013 after peaking at above 20 percent.

According to market researcher Strategy Analytics, Huawei took up the largest share in the Chinese market in the first quarter with 21.2 percent, followed by Oppo with 17.4 percent, Vivo 15.1 percent, Xiaomi 13.0 percent and Apple 9.4 percent. Samsung commanded a mere 1.3 percent.

By Chun Kyung-woon and Choi Mira

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