Australia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Taiwan
Thailand
Vietnam
Germany
Hong Kong
USA
Switzerland
Singapore
United Kingdom
China’s manufacturing ability does not need any fresh introduction and the country’s smartphone industry is one of the biggest beneficiaries of this feat. China smartphone market is the biggest in the world with an estimated 954 million smartphone users, as per gaming analytics firm Newzoo.
Apart from robust domestic sales, Chinese smartphone makers also dominate other regions around the globe. As of the fourth quarter of 2021, three out of the world’s top five smartphone brands were Chinese, says Counterpoint Research.
Proliferation of Chinese smartphones
The world’s largest smartphone market saw exceptional growth for most of the previous decade, but annual shipments fell 4% in 2017, ending an 8-year-long growth streak, reports BBC.
The global smartphone race was largely dominated by Samsung and Apple, but Chinese brands soon took over a large chunk of their market share with cheap Android devices. However, the smartphone market has been stagnant for the past few years due to saturation, less differentiation between brands and the lack of uniqueness.
As the coronavirus pandemic hit, Chinese smartphone brands expanded rapidly as they tried to shed the reputation they gained as merely cheap copycats. “Chinese smartphone-makers have captured around 40% of the global market share, showing that Chinese firms are increasingly capable of building consumer products with global appeal,” said Dan Wang, technology analyst at research firm Gavekal Dragonomics, on CNET.
Over the past couple of years, Chinese firms have tried to innovate designs and released high-end phones that will compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung. A Gartner analyst said that this competitive pressure has driven pricing, innovation and marketing, and Chinese vendors pose a significant threat to Apple’s brand.
After a decline of five years, China’s smartphone market finally entered the black in 2021 despite supply chain disruptions and weak demand. Research firm IDC in a report said China smartphone market grew by 1.1% in 2021.
However, this growth is temporary and the Chinese smartphone market will continue to face challenges in 2022, said Xi Wang, Research Manager for Client System Research at IDC China. “Although the Chinese market grew slightly in 2021, there are still no signs of improvement in terms of consumer demand in the short term.”
Smartphone brands with a global footprint
China’s Huawei was the market leader, but the US-China trade war and the consequent ban on the supply of parts and software have pushed the smartphone maker into obsoletion. Huawei was the world’s second-largest phone brand in the world before its fall from grace.
ZTE was another victim of the US sanctions and suffered a $1 billion loss in 2018. However, the reputation of the company has nosedived, and supply chain participants are cautious about working with ZTE.
PC-maker Lenovo has a strong presence in the mobile industry as well, and it bought the US-phone maker Motorola in 2015 to aid its mobile business ambitions. Lenovo was among the top smartphone brands in China during the middle of the previous decade but has rapidly seen its market share shrink below 3% as of 2021.
Xiaomi is another homegrown Chinese firm that marketed itself as “value for money”. It owns the brands Redmi, Pocophone and Black Shark. Xiaomi is the world’s third-biggest smartphone maker, with a 12% market share. Whereas in China, the brand is at the fifth spot with a 16% market share, as per data from Counterpoint Research.
Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics is probably the most notable company on the list, as its brands Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus and Realme were quick to capture the footing lost by Huawei. BBK group accounted for 31.1% of the global Android market share in unit terms in the second quarter of 2021.
BBK brands and Xiaomi are market leaders in India and several other Southeast Asian countries. In Africa, the lesser-known Chinese brand Transsion has established its dominance with a 47% market share, wrote China Daily.
Huawei was the market leader in Europe, but now other Chinese brands such as Xiaomi are vying for the top spot. As of 2021, Samsung and Apple occupy over half of Europe’s smartphone market share, and the other half is dominated by Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, Realme and Vivo, says Counterpoint Research.
Chinese smartphone makers have a weak presence in the US compared to other regions, largely due to the sanctions imposed during the Trump era. In the last quarter of 2021, Apple captured over half of the US mobile phone market, followed by Samsung. The other notable brands in the US are Lenovo (12%) and OnePlus (2%).
Apple’s rise in China
iPhone maker Apple took the biggest chunk of China’s smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2021, reclaiming the top spot after six years. Apple had a 25% market share in China, with a 40% growth in sales over the year, said Canalys.
China is key to Apple’s business not only for sales but also for production. The world’s largest iPhone factory, operated by Taiwan’s Foxconn, is located in central China
Meanwhile, Huawei had a mere 7% market share in China after being crippled by US sanctions. The company’s sales have declined 73% over the past year. The company did not even make it to the top 5 Chinese brands.
For full-year 2021, Vivo and OPPO emerged as top brands in China, followed by Xiaomi in the third spot and Apple in the fourth. Honor, a spinoff company that was earlier owned by Huawei, came in at the fifth spot with a 12% market share.
