Move over, Xiaomi – Oppo and Vivo join charge of the Chinese smartphone brigade
Two new brands among top five global makers of smartphones in first quarter of 2016, behind Samsung, Apple and Huawei, as keenly priced premium Chinese handsets make market inroads
Three of the five largest smartphone makers in the world are now Chinese – and two are newcomers whose names will be unfamiliar to many people outside China.
Samsung was still number one for global shipments in the first quarter of 2016, a report this week by research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) showed. The South Korean giant shipped 81.9 million units, maintaining its lead over US-based Apple (51.2 million). Next came China’s Huawei, which cemented its hold on third place, shipping 27.5 million mobile handsets, followed by new entrants Oppo (18.5 million) and Vivo (14.3 million).
The IDC report also showed the global smartphone market saw record-low growth of 0.2 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2015, with shipments totalling 334.9 million units.
Analysts say the key to Chinese manufacturers’ success is their ability to produce high-performing smartphones with premium design at prices which don’t break the bank.
“Along China’s maturing smartphone adoption curve, the companies most aligned with growth are those with products serving increasingly sophisticated consumers,” says Melissa Chau, senior research manager for IDC’s “Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker”.