MOSCOW - Smartphones made in China took a larger share of the Russian market in January than a year ago, local retailers said recently.

In January 2017, five Chinese brands -- Lenovo, Huawei, Meizu, Xiaomi and ZTE -- collectively accounted for 24 percent of the Russian market in sales and 19 percent in revenue, increased from 19 percent and 13 percent respectively against January of last year, electronic devices retailer M.video revealed.

Chinese manufacturers are no longer perceived by Russian buyers as suppliers of cheap phones, said Svyaznoy's spokesman Sergei Tikhonov.

According to him, earlier smartphones of Chinese brands were sold mainly in low price segments, but now they appear in both medium and high price categories.

Another reason is technology, said Tikhonov, adding that in recent years Chinese smartphones are in some respects even superior to the smartphone leaders in terms of technical characteristics.