The 2013 Mobile World Congress (MWC) - which concluded in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday, February 28 - witnessed quite a few Chinese device makers, including Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corp and Lenovo Group, making a highly noteworthy impression.

The Chinese handset makers participating in the 2013 MWC impressed the visitors with several new models that boasted faster chips, larger displays and lower prices. While Lenovo had on display its K900 handset featuring Intel's new dual-core chips; ZTE introduced the world's first Firefox OS-powered handset.

The extremely attractive exhibition of Chinese brands at the MWC was a clear indication of the fact that Chinese device makers are apparently determined to boost their global profiles and mark their presence in the high-end handset market.

However, the analysts are of the opinion that despite the new traction in the global markets, Chinese handset manufacturers still have a long way to go before they can effectively pose a serious challenge to the handset-industry bigwigs like Apple and Samsung, particularly in the smartphone section priced at 4,000 yuan (US$634) or above.

Nonetheless, pointing to the potential market-share gain by Chinese handset makers, Morgan Stanley said in a recent note: "Selective local brands like Lenovo and ZTE could gain share via favorable cost and performance, as well as enlarged scale."