Despite an overall 0.8% on year shipment decline in the first quarter of 2017, shipments of iPhone devices in the UK, US and Australia still posted a growth of 5.6%, 5.2% and 3.8% on year, respectively, in the quarter, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Actually, Apple saw its iPhone shipments decline only in the China and Japan markets in the first quarter, down 8.6% and 1.7%, respectively. Sales of iPhones accounted for only 12.4% of China's smartphone market in the first quarter, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2014, said the market research firm.

Nevertheless, iPhone 7 remained the best-selling smartphone in the China market in the first quarter, accounting for a 3.8% share of all smartphones sold in the three-month period.

Meanwhile, combined share of China-based smartphone vendors in the largest five markets in Europe, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, climbed to a high of 22% in the first quarter. Huawei alone accounted for a 6.3% of the UK's smartphone market and took third in the vendor's rankings.