Apple was the only foreign brand to have a smartphone model in the top 10 best-selling handsets in China in 2017. 

The iPhone 7 Plus managed 2.8 percent of all sales in the world's largest smartphone market, according to data from Counterpoint Research released Monday. Apple's large-screen device trailed the Oppo R9s which gained 3 percent market share.

Apple's iPhone 7, which was released in September 2016, did well in the first half of 2017, then benefited in the second half thanks to a price cut in China, Counterpoint analyst James Yan said in a blog post Monday.

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