Apple's share in China's smartphone market almost halved to 10 percent in the second quarter as buyers waited for the next iPhone model - expected later this year - or switched brands, data from industry research firm IDC showed on Friday.

Smartphone shipments in China overtook feature phones for the first time in April-June, with domestic vendor Lenovo Group knocking Apple from second place in the world's largest mobile market, the data showed.

China's smartphone shipments totalled 44 million in April-June, accounting for 51 percent of the country's total mobile shipments of 87 million, IDC said.

Lenovo, the world's no.2 vendor of personal computers which makes the LePhone, took 11 percent market share in China in the second quarter, up from a single-digit percentage in the first quarter when it was ranked 7th, the data showed.

Samsung Electronics retained its lead in the Chinese smartphone market with a share of around 16 percent, little changed from the first quarter. Apple ranked 4th.

Global handset vendors, such as Samsung and Nokia Oyj , have been chasing increased market share in China, where there are more than 1 billion mobile subscribers. China is set to overtake the United States as the world's largest smartphone market this year.