Huawei has dethroned Xiaomi at the top of the Chinese smartphone market, the largest in the world, which is a major setback for a company that has been referred to as "the Apple of China."

Huawei's triumph over Xiaomi was reported by research company Canalys, which tagged it as a "remarkable feat" for Huawei that is most popular outside of its home country not for its smartphones, but for the company's network equipment.

Xiaomi's slide puts the company under intense pressure to keep its growth rate steady in other parts of the world. The company saw smartphone shipments for the third quarter decline compared to the corresponding quarter last year, which is the first time such a thing happened to Xiaomi.

Huawei, also for the first time, became the top smartphone company in China as it saw third-quarter shipments for its smartphones increase by 81 percent compared to the third quarter of 2014.

Xiaomi, which caught the attention of the world a couple of years ago through its hiring of former Google executive Hugo Barra to assist in its overseas expansion, has grown rapidly in China. The company was able to do so through sales of low-cost smartphones with high-end features and specifications online, and by taking advantage of social media.

At the time of Barra's hiring, Xiaomi was raking in more sales compared to Apple as users flocked to its offerings. However, with the maturing of the smartphone market of the country, it seems that Xiaomi is losing its momentum in its home country, allowing Huawei to overtake it.

Huawei, which once sold mostly low-end devices, jumped to the top of the market with devices such as the P8 and the Mate S.

Canalys did not release the figures for the smartphone market shares of the companies operating in China, including how well or bad Apple is operating. The full report, according to the research company, will be released later in the month.

China remains the biggest smartphone market in the world, with nearly 100 million smartphones sold in the year's first quarter. However, its growth has seen a slowdown this year, for the first time in a period of six years.