Thanks to Android, smartphones are no longer a commodity reserved for the privilege few, the days of saving your salary for months to get a mobile phone is no longer necessary. You can now get a sub RM200 smartphone made from China at Lowyat or any other digital malls.
Its these possibility that has pushed global sales of smartphones hitting 380 million units in the first quarter of 2017, a 9.1 percent increase over the first quarter of 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. The shift in buyer preference is positively affecting Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei, Oppo and Vivo in their strategy to build desirable features at affordable prices. Their combined market share in the first quarter of 2017 accounted for 24 percent, up 7 percentage points year on year.
How They Stack Up?
Market leaders Samsung and Apple are feeling tremendous pressure evident with sales declining 3.1 percent in the first quarter of 2017. Even though preorders for Galaxy S8 was up the absence of Note 7 impacted the oversales for the company. As for iPhones the performance were flat, which led to a drop in market share year over year. Similar to Samsung, Apple is increasingly facing fierce competition from Chinese brands Oppo and Vivo, among others, and its performance in China is under attack adds Gartner.
Huawei is inching closer to Apple with increasing velocity, the launch of P9 and P9+ continues to see uptake despite a year in the market. Much anticipation is stacked on the anniversary iPhone 8 model set to be launched later this year, knowing Cuppertino they will have the last say on the smartphone market. Meanwhile, Vivo sold almost 26 million smartphones this year alone and has achieved staggering growth, the Vivo 5S is seen as a formidable device in the mid-tier segment. Specifications on the model is similar to what iPhone released 2 years back at a much higher price point.
While Apple and Samsung enjoy dominance in the premium segment the balance of pricing versus features continue raise an argument. Consumers are not compelled to rush and pick a Galaxy or iPhone immediately, they now wait and see what the China brands roll out.
