China’s top three smartphone makers allow inter-device data transfer in battle against Apple amid sluggish sales
- Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo smartphone users will be able to transfer data between the three companies’ devices without a third-party app
- The new alliance shows the companies’ efforts to encourage consumers to upgrade to new devices, while competing against Apple
China’s top three domestic smartphone companies – Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi – have reached an agreement that will allow users to transfer data between their branded devices, an alliance that could challenge Apple’s popularity in the country.
Owners of smartphones from Beijing-based Xiaomi and Guangdong-based Vivo and Oppo will be able to move system and app data seamlessly to a new handset belonging to any of these brands, the companies announced on Wednesday on their respective Weibo accounts.
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The rise of Chinese smartphones
While Android phone users outside China generally use Google Drive to migrate data when switching devices, that service is unavailable on handsets sold in the mainland Chinese market. Instead, most users in the country rely on third-party data transfer apps, such as Tencent Holdings’ WeSync and Huawei Technologies Co’s Smartphone Clone.
On the other hand, mainland users of Apple’s iPhones can directly move data to a new iOS device through the company’s iCloud service or a Bluetooth and Wi-fi connection.
The new partnership between Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, which jointly control nearly half of China’s smartphone market, comes after the country last year saw its steepest fall in smartphone sales in a decade.
