Research firm IDC says that Apple’s smartphone share in China, its second largest market, almost halved in Q2 as local Chinese sellers like Lenovo and ZTE gained ground.

IDC Analyst T. Z. Wong said said that Apple lost marketshare because people know a new iPhone will be released soon, but also because the alternative are much more attractive than they were a year ago.

According to IDC, Lenovo took the second place, increasing its market share to 11 percent from a five to eight percent share in the first quarter when it was ranked seventh. ZTE is in third place with 10 percent and Huawei (which was recently the subject of a cover story for The Economist) was in fifth place with a 9 percent share of the market. Samsung share dropped from 21 percent to 19 percent, but still maintained its position as the No. 1 seller in China.

Overall, smartphone shipments rose to 44 million, accounting for 51 percent of China’s total mobile shipments of 87 million. This second quarter is also the first in which smartphones shipments in China overtook feature phones, so it is likely China will overtake the United States as the world’s biggest smartphone market this year.