Huawei and vivo were the fastest growing brands in China followed by OPPO and Xiaomi, together cementing the top four spots and extending their lead over Apple and Samsung by a wide margin.
The top four Chinese brands now capture close to 69 per cent of the market as these brands have raced ahead of international and other local brands with expansive distribution reach and exciting portfolio.
According to a report by Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service, the smartphones shipments in China grew a modest three per cent annually during the second quarter of 2017 (Apr-Jun), registering second consecutive quarter of annual growth this year.
Huawei continued to capture the top spot this quarter ahead of rivals OPPO and vivo, shipping higher volumes into the channels. Huawei’s nova, enjoy series along with flagship P10 were in strong demand during the quarter.
While Apple’s performance continued to be seasonal, Samsung’s volumes decline due to the Oppo-Vivo onslaught in offline. Xiaomi made a surprise comeback after being on decline for a few quarters against Huawei Honor.
OPPO and vivo were able to also grow significantly over last year with strong performance in mid-tier with A and Y series respectively as well as with F/R and V/X series in high-tier respectively. Each of the series are well positioned in the fast-growing $100-$199 (600-1300 rmb) and affordable premium $300-$399 (2000-2700 rmb) segments catering demand from tier-1 cities to tier-4 towns.
Xiaomi saw a positive uptick growing 20 per cent year-on-year and almost doubling the volumes sequentially after a dip in first quarter of 2017 when the vendor’s volumes reached almost 2013 levels. The key reason behind the comeback can be attributed to strong demand for its latest flagship Mi 6 and low-tier models such as Redmi Note 4X as well as focus on diversifying distribution channels.
