Samsung and Xiaomi are the big winners in China’s smartphone market this year while Apple sales dropped, according to a new research report by consumer insight company Kantar Worldpanel. Galaxy S3 and S4 models have been especially popular, as has been the Galaxy Note 2, a “phablet”. The combined sales of these three models accounted for 25% of Samsung’s total profit for the third quarter this year. Half of all “premium” smartphones – phones with a price of at least CNY3,000 – sold in China during the period were Samsung products. But Kantar’s research also shows the company would need to create more innovative models if it wants to stay ahead in the long run, particularly as the Galaxy S4 is widely seen as only an incremental upgrade over the S3. Xiaomi benefited from its latest “budget” smartphone – the Mi-3, starting from CNY1,999. This price point has helped Xiaomi sell to consumers keen on “high-spec, low-price phones”, the report said, and helped the company beat Lenovo to become the second-largest Android phone seller in the third quarter of this year. “Consumers are beginning to realize that good user experiences don’t necessarily come with a hefty price tag,” the report said. In contrast to the success enjoyed by Samsung and Xiaomi, Apple’s sales this year have lagged behind the competition, and its market share dropped from 19.5% in the second quarter of the year to 18% in the third. The drop in sales may have been caused by the launch of the iPhone 5s and 5c on September 20 as consumers stopped buying older models. Kantar Worldpanel’s research was carried out via a survey of 15,000 Chinese smartphone users over the past year.