Samsung didn’t start 2017 in a very good manner, at least not in China, where it lost 50% of sales compared to last year. The info comes from a Hong Kong-based research firm, also stating that the local companies got the market share that Samsung lost. I’m talking about Huawei, Oppo and Vivo.
China is very important in the smartphone biz, as it’s the largest smartphone market in the world. The info published by Counterpoint Technology Market Research shows that shipments of Samsung phones dropped about 60% year on year, reaching 3.5 million units in Q1 this year in China. The market share of the company got from 8.6% to a measly 3.3%. Of course, the Samsung Galaxy S8 just hit the stores recently, so it didn’t have enough time to make a splash yet.
Something tells me that Q2 will be totally different. Also, in the same time frame, Oppo grew 81% in shipments, while Vivo went up 60% and Huawei 25%. Huawei is top dog right now, with a 19.7% share in China, followed by Oppo, with 17.5% and Vivo with 17.1%. Affordable prices and good distribution channels are to thank for this evolution.
Samsung has more expensive products and availability is more limited than the rivals’.
