China is experiencing a very competitive environment where smartphone market becoming increasingly saturated and driven mostly by replacement users.
One can also observe that,
Apple leads the momentum in the high-end segment. In
the >US$500 price band segment, IDC reveals that, Apple dominates strongly
at 86%. This is followed by Samsung at 12% and Huawei at 2%.
OPPO and vivo are two Chinese vendors that are seeing their
shipments pick up largely due to investments made in marketing as well as
increasing their distribution channels.
There are no major changes to the various channels in the China smartphone market.
It is becoming increasingly harder for vendors to differentiate themselves
through hardware.
Vendors such as Apple, Huawei and most recently, Xiaomi, have
launched their payment services in China. It will not be easy for new players
to enter the market as WeChat and Alipay currently dominate mobile payments in
the country.
LeEco is attempting to get users locked into its
ecosystem through subscription to its online video content.
According to IDC, the ranking changes amongst vendors show that
the smartphone market is extremely volatile and consumers generally lack brand
loyalty.
“Vendors must constantly be on their feet to think of different ways to
engage consumers. There is an opportunity now in the mid-range smartphone
market with replacement users seeking to upgrade their phones and vendors
should try to tap on that segment of the market,” said Tay Xiaohan, Senior Market Analyst with IDC Asia/Pacific's
Client Devices team.