Chinese smartphone players Oppo and Huawei are looking to make major inroads into the Australian mobile market, with new models packed with high-end features – and lower pricing than market leaders Apple and Samsung.

Oppo has just brought its refined R9S device to market in Australia with a wide-ranging sales blitz in JB Hi-Fi, Woolworths and Officeworks outlets.

According to IDC numbers, Oppo accounted for 6.8 per cent of the global smartphone market in 2016, shipping some 99.3 million units. Now it’s aiming to ramp up its shipments by more than 20pc in 2017.

Huawei has also launched a bold bid to displace Samsung as the premium provider of Android handsets with its new Mate 9 (CDN, Friday).

Last year, Oppo briefly overtook Huawei at one point last year but the latter has now retaken the lead, shipping a total of 125.9 million units last year.

Huawei Australia’s head of marketing Marc Di Giacomo argues that “the market is naturally moving to that desire for better cameras” – with its twin-lens Leica technology a special feature of the Mate 9.

Oppo is unworried. “We have huge plans in store for 2017 and these results are nothing but encouraging for our growth in the Australian market,” said executive director Michael Tran – CDN and Channel News