Xiaomi, Apple lose their shine in China

 

Xiaomi and Apple both lost market share on China’s smartphone market in the second quarter of 2016, with Xiaomi dropping from first to fourth place compared to the same period in 2015.

 

According to latest figures from IDC, the China-based company had a market share of 16.1% in Q2 2015 and was just ahead of domestic rival Huawei with a 15.6% share. By the second quarter of this year, Xiaomi had dropped back to a share of 9.5% while Huawei improved to 17.2% and gained the number one spot.

 

Apple also lost market share over the year, dropping from 11.9% in Q2 2015 to 7.8% in Q2 2016. IDC noted that the iPhone SE was not a hit in China, where consumers prefer larger screen-sized phones. In Q2 2016, close to 90% of phones shipped in China had screen sizes that were five inches and above.

 

Huawei was joined in the top three by domestic rivals Oppo and Vivo, with all three players improved their combined market share to 47% in Q2 2016 compared to 43% in 2015.

 

Xiaohan Tay, senior market analyst at IDC, said the success of Huawei, Oppo and vivo “can be attributed to their concerted effort to build their brand and aggressive marketing to attract the consumers, along with the focus on product differentiation.”

 

Oppo improved its market share from 7.6% in Q2 2015 to 16.2% in the same period of 2016 and saw shipments soar by 124.1% year-on-year to 18 million. Vivo also saw strong shipments growth of 74.7% and improved its share from 7.9% to 13.2%.