The share of Samsung Electronics dropped to a one digit number, ranking fifth in the Chinese smartphone market.
The Chinese brands Xiaomi and Huawei ranked first and second, with Apple coming in next. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 29 (Korea Bizwire) – The share of Samsung Electronics dropped to a one digit number, ranking fifth in the Chinese smartphone market. The Chinese brands Xiaomi and Huawei ranked first and second, with Apple coming in next.
According to the Chinese branch of IHS Technology, a market research institution, the market share of Samsung Electronics decreased to 9 percent in the second quarter. This is a 1 percent point drop from the 10 percent share of the previous quarter. With the drop, Samsung’s ranking also took a step back from fourth to fifth.
Instead, another Chinese smartphone manufacturer, ‘vivo‘ came in fourth pushing Samsung back.
With the high demand of the iphone 6, Apple managed to expand their market share to 12 percent, which is a 1 percent point increase compared to the first quarter. They kept their place, ranking third in the second quarter.
Xiaomi expanded their share from 14 percent to 18 percent, securing their place as first rank, and Huawei is chasing right behind, expanding their share from 11 percent to 16 percent.
Xiaomi and Huawei both managed to enlarge their share even though the Chinese smartphone market slowed down its expansion.
Lei Jun, the CEO of Xiaomi revealed that 34,700,000 phones were sold in the first half of 2015 on his Weivo. It is a 33 percent increase compared to the same period last year. This number exceeds the predictions that the smartphone market growth will slow down by 2.5 percent.
Chinese media evaluated that Samsung was defeated by the domestic brands. “The Galaxy S6 did not pull Samsung out of the regression they are going through in the Chinese market. Samsung couldn’t fight cheaper brands like Xiaomi and Huawei, and is having a hard time struggling with brands with higher prices like Apple.”
Also, Chinese brands like ‘vivo’ and ‘OPPO’ are using the high price strategy like Samsung, so it seems things are going to be rough for Samsung until they come up with a breakthrough strategy.
By Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
