Huawei has held onto its top ranking within the Chinese smartphone market, despite quarterly shipments falling 3% to 113 million.
“China’s smartphone market continues to consolidate. The top five brands accounted for almost three quarters of shipments, with the top four all growing and adding 10% to their cumulative share compared with the same quarter a year ago. Adopting a diverse channel strategy is key to success in China, as competition has intensified in online and offline channels, resulting in many vendors losing market share quickly,” said Canalys Research Analyst Hattie He.
According to Canalys Research, Huawei shipped 23 million handsets within the Chinese market during the period.
This saw them beat out rivals Oppo and Xiaomi, who came in at second place and third place with 21 million and 16 million handsets shipped respectively.
“Huawei and Xiaomi have strong online brands, and are now rapidly growing their offline channels. Oppo and Vivo face greater pressure on their mid-range from Redmi and Honor. The failure to establish online channels will slow the momentum of these rising stars.”
Despite losing ground to the top players, Canalys Research Analyst Lucio Chen says that “Xiaomi still offers the best value in the Chinese market, and it remains the preferred choice for price-conscious consumers. The online channel continues to be a key route to market for Xiaomi and this quarter saw it take the lead in the 618 online sales events across online retail platforms, such as JD.com and Tmall.”
Xiaomi is one of the few major Chinese smartphones brands to have yet to expand to the Australian market.
