Chinese Mobile Brands Taking Over the Smartphone Market

After Apple and Samsung, which mobile company is selling the most smartphones around the globe? If you guessed it to be one of the growing Chinese smartphone manufacturers, you are right. Chinese Brands are expected to lead the market for smartphone shipments in the world by 2017. The Chinese smartphone brands like Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO, ZTE, and Alcatel are creating a big impact, both inside and outside China. It seems quite clear that Chinese companies will not take long to conquer the world. Chinese Mobile Brands Taking Over the Smartphone Market.

Chinese Mobile Brands Taking Over the Smartphone Market

According to Strategy Analytics, Apple and Samsung are still the market leaders but Chinese handsets are also increasing their market share. Samsung shipped 319.7 million handsets in 2015. However it couldn’t maintain the same number in next year and its shipment decreased to 309.4 million in 2016, hence decreasing its market share to 20.8% from 22.2%. Apple shipped 231.5 million handsets in 2015, but surprisingly, its shipment also decreased to 215.4 million devices. Its market share decreased to 14.5% in 2016 from 18.6% in 2015. Three of the top five smartphone brands in 2016 were Chinese. Huawei stood at the third position as it’s obvious from the chart that its shipment has increased to 138.8 in the year 2016 from the previous year in which it reached 107.1 million shipments.

Three Chinese brands were in the top five smartphone list of 2016

The market share of Huawei increased to 9.3% in 2016 from 7.4% in 2015. Same is the case with Oppo that increased its market share to 4.8% in 2016 from 2.7% of previous year. While Vivo’s market share also increased to 4.8% in 2016. These stats are clear evidence that Chinese brands are thriving year by year and are expected to capture major portion of the market in coming years.

Chinese mobile brands are getting a strong market position around the world but are Chinese companies really a threat to the established phone makers? It’s is a somewhat tricky question to answer. Despite decreasing market share Apple has a strong customer base that prefers iOS on Android and other operating systems which is why Apple has a secure place in the high-end smartphones. But it’s true that Chinese manufacturers do pose a threat to many other well-known smartphone makers including Samsung, Sony, HTC, Moto, LG etc.

Chinese smartphones are taking over the world’s smartphone market with their high specs and low prices. When you use a Chinese phone, you’ll be surprised at how well they work costing so less money. Chinese smartphone manufacturers have an advantage over other phone makers in the global market in part because low-cost labor keeps their manufacturing costs down.

A few years back Chinese smartphones were regarded as low quality but this perception is dying out. Today, Chinese brands produce some of the best devices. Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and Meizu, also have the advantage of building phones locally, which means they have fewer transportation costs – unlike Apple, Samsung, HTC or Sony.

The Chinese smartphone brands like Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO, ZTE, and Alcatel are creating a big impact, both inside China and in emerging economies as well

You’ll never find Apple in $100, Samsung has tried to enter the low-end smartphone market with some lighter version phones but their specs are also low.

Chinese mobile brands not only focus on greatest hardware; they’re also interested in balancing price with performance. Earlier, Chinese manufacturers chose Mediatek processor, which might not be up there with Samsung’s Exynos or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon but it sure is a lot cheaper. Plus Mediatek is also a Chinese company, so it offers cheap local distribution. But this trend is also changing and now we can see many Chinese brands that are moving towards better chipsets makers. Many new Chinese smartphones by Lenovo Moto, Nokia, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Vivo are powered with Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. This will surely help in removing the stereotyped image of Chinese brands. Another reason why Chinese brands are available at a lower price is that they save money by cutting their advertising cost instead of increasing profit margins in smartphone process. Chinese mobile brands do not invest a lot in advertising, unlike other famous brands. Social networks can be much cheaper and equally effective marketing tools.

Pakistan is the nation of about 190 Million people as of now, which makes it the 6th most populated country in the World and an ideal market for any industry including smartphone manufacturing.

Pakistan is the 6th most populated country in the World and an ideal market for any industry including smartphone manufacturing

Moreover, the mobile phone subscriber base in Pakistan has also crossed 140 million recently. With the introduction of 3G/4G services in the country, the number of smartphone users is also skyrocketing. With such favorable conditions, Chinese brands are also trying to gain a foothold in Pakistani market. In a recent couple of years, many international smartphone players have entered the market Oppo, Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo etc. Xiaomi and Lenovo have officially launched their brands in last few months while Nokia and Vivo are expected to hit Pakistani market in coming months. This has given people a chance to enjoy good specifications which were unaffordable before. Now we can get almost the same features released by high-end brands but at lower cost. The rise of Chinese mobile brands has not only introduced various options in Pakistani market but has also created job oppertunities for many.

The rise of Chinese mobile brands has not only introduced various options in Pakistani market but has also created employment for many

Pakistan is a price conscious market where large numbers of people belong to middle-class families who cannot afford pricey phones. Also, a large portion of population comprises of youth who can’t afford to buy expensive phones. Hence, Chinese mobiles with lower prices and high-end specifications are considered the best possible option for most of the Pakistani smartphone users. Most of the Chinese brands like Oppo, Infinix, and Huawei have launched customer service centers in all large cities of Pakistan where devices can be easily fixed at a low cost, which is not the case with other international brands.  This has built a good rapport of Chinese brands in Pakistan.

In their homeland, they have a lot of support by the government of China that helps them to survive and to be more competitive. Pakistan and China have very strong relations and now after the monumental CPEC agreement, the trade relations among two countries have become even stronger. Chinese companies will get extra preference as compared to other foreign companies; this will further help Chinese mobile manufacturers to gain a better strong hold in our local market.