The latest report from market research firm IDC reveals that Oppo has now become the top smartphone manufacturer in China. The company sold out over 78.4 million units in 2016 and occupied 16.8% share of the market. Whereas, Huawei stands at the second position by shipping 76.6 million devices with a market share of 16.4%. Somehow, Vivo managed to capture the third place with a shipment figure of 69.2 million units claiming 14.8% of the market.
The companies mentioned above have jointly occupied half of the country’s market. Apple and Xiaomi also join the above firms in the top 5 list holding a 9.6% and 8.9% shares, respectively. The order of rankings in the fourth quarter of 2016 also remains same where Oppo leads first.
The report also alleged that:
“Increased dependence on mobile apps has resulted in consumers to seek phone upgrades, thus helping drive the massive growth in 2016Q4. In lower-tiered cities, there was a similar demand by consumers, which OPPO and Vivo met by aggressively pushing mid-range smartphones in these cities.”
You have to realize that OPPO managed this not by offering better phones or better value for money but just by the ‘highly innovative’ move of offering their phones at retail outlets instead of only online. I can’t see them maintaining this lead once other Chinese OEMs start doing the same. Xiaomi, for example, offers equally good phones at better prices so I expect them to surge back to the top in due course.