(Yicai Global) Oct. 23 -- Chinese mobile phone brand Vivo Communication Technology Co. plans to start selling its products in Russia, marking its first expansion into a European market, online news outlet Sina Finance reported.

The Chinese smartphone maker will also start to sell its handsets in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Morocco and Kenya in the coming months.

Vivo ranked fifth in the global smartphone market in the first and second quarter of this year, data released by Gartner show. Only Samsung Electronics Co. [KRX:005930], Apple Inc. [NASDAQ:AAPL], Huawei Technologies Co. and Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Co. achieved higher sales during those periods.