(Photo: CGTN)

Chinese telecom company Huawei held on to its spot as the world's second-biggest smartphone vendor in the first quarter, before being blacklisted by the United States, research and advisory firm Gartner said.

Gartner also said Huawei continued to reduce the gap with Samsung, but warned that growth could be limited in the near term.

The United States on May 15 blocked Huawei from buying US goods saying the company was involved in activities contrary to national security. The Trump administration softened its stance last week by granting Huawei a license to buy US goods until August 19.

Gartner said Samsung retained its top spot in worldwide smartphone sales, achieving a 19.2-percent market share in the first quarter of 2019. Huawei achieved the highest year-over-year growth among the world's top five – Samsung, Huawei, Apple and Chinese smartphone makers OPPO and Vivo.

Huawei sold 58.4 million smartphone units in the quarter, with growth across all regions, the report showed.

Total global sales of smartphones to end users fell 2.7 percent in the quarter, with 373 million units sold.

Huawei did particularly well in two of its biggest markets, Europe and Greater China, where its smartphone sales grew by 69 percent and 33 percent respectively. Huawei has a 29.5-percent market share of Greater China's smartphone market.