Oppo, Vivo, Huawei lead Chinese smartphone market; Xiaomi down at number 4: IDC report

Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo are now the top three smartphone leaders in China. The info comes from the smartphone shipment data for second quarter of 2016 released by the International Data Corporation (IDC). It also says that all three brands together now have a 47 percent share of the market. This is bad news for Xiaomi as it has now slipped to the fourth position. The company’s second quarter shipment saw a drop of 38.4 percent year-on-year as it shipped 10.5 million smartphones in the quarter down from 17.1 million in the same period last year. The market share has also dropped from 11.9 percent to 9.5 percent. The research says that Huawei and Oppo have been successful mainly due to marketing and advertising messages. For instance, Huawei has been strongly marketing its new P9 smartphone which comes with a Leica lens equipped camera. On the other hand Oppo has taken fast charging seriously and betting high on its VOOC charging technology. Huawei managed to ship 19.1 million smartphones in China in Q2 2016, with a market share of 17.2 percent. This is a 15.2 percent rise year-on-year. Oppo managed to ship 18 million units, bringing its market share to 16.2 percent, a growth of 124.1 percent year-on-year. Lastly, Vivo shipped 14.7 million units, with a 13.2 percent market share which is a growth of 74.7 percent year on year. Chinese OEMs are leaving the big players like Apple and Samsung behind. It is said that the quality, design, marketing and pricing have been crucial factors in making local smartphone producers the leaders.