Global smartphone battle: Five things you need to know
Huawei and Vivo are on a roll while Apple struggles
One man’s loss is another man’s gain. This adage seems truer than ever in the smartphone wars.
Huawei is moving a lot of phones
The Chinese telecom equipment giant finally leapfrogged Apple to the second spot in worldwide shipments last quarter. While the iPhone’s popularity may have peaked in China, Huawei shipped 50% more handsets than a year ago.
“We believe it is Huawei that Samsung should be worrying about rather than Apple,” said Counterpoint’s research analyst Shobhit Srivastava.
Vivo is the new darling
Almost every company besides Huawei is selling fewer smartphones, but Vivo was one of the few exceptions. The Chinese brand is virtually unknown in the US, but it managed to grow shipments by 24% year-on-year according to IDC, which puts it among the top 5 (in a tie with sister company Oppo).
Meet Vivo, the FIFA World Cup sponsor you’ve never heard of
Neither Oppo nor Vivo phones are officially sold in the US, but their sister brand OnePlus might be more familiar, having established a following among American consumers. Taken together, the combined sales of these three brands make their parent company BBK Electronics the world’s third biggest smartphone maker, according to Counterpoint.
Apple’s price cut in China wasn’t enough
India is the new China
Just like the rest of the world, smartphones are no longer selling as well in China as they used to. So instead, Chinese phone makers are now looking south to India, home to the world’s biggest population after China. Just like China a few years ago, India has a growing middle class that’s eager to get their hands on upgraded handsets.
How Xiaomi forged a unique path
The bottomline: India is becoming the battleground that China used to be.
It’s getting worse for the underdogs
Part of that is because people are simply holding onto their phones longer. Owners of expensive Android phones are waiting 30 months on average to upgrade, according to Counterpoint, while iPhone users are staying put even longer at close to three years.
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