Chinese telecom giants ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd saw their rankings in the global mobile phone market fall in the first quarter, according to the latest report from Gartner Inc.

ZTE slipped one place year-on-year to become the fifth-largest mobile phone vendor globally in the quarter ended March. The company shipped 14.6 million mobile phones in the first three months, from 17.4 million in the same period last year, Gartner said.

ZTE's share of the global mobile phone market declined to 3.4 percent, from 4.1 percent a year earlier. South Korea-based LG Electronics overtook ZTE in the first quarter to reach fourth place.