Samsung, Apple watch out, Chinese smartphones brands capture 17% global market share

Chinese smartphone companies have grown significantly in the market and are now among the top five globally in terms of sales. From two Chinese brands ranked within the top 5 worldwide smartphone vendors in Q1 2015, in the same quarter this year it has increased to three Chinese brands.

These companies include Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi whose sales are just behind leaders Samsung and Apple.

Huawei at third spot saw it market share grow to 8.3% during January-March quarter with sales of 28.8 million units, according to report by Gartner. The company in the same quarter last year has sold 18.1 million units with a 5.4% growth in its smartphone market share.

It is followed by Oppo mobiles which saw its market share grow to 4.6% to 16.1 million units in Q1, a 145% growth from the same quarter last year (6.58 million units).

Xiaomi came in 5th spot as its market share grew to 4.3% in Q1 with sales of 15 million units.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 1Q16 (Thousands of Units)

Source: Gartner (May 2016)

"With the changing smartphone market dynamics, Chinese brands are emerging as the new top global brands. Two Chinese brands ranked within the top five worldwide smartphone vendors in the first quarter of 2015, and represented 11% of the market. In the first quarter of 2016, there were three Chinese brands – Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi – and they achieved 17% of the market,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner.

Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo saw strong growth in China and took their share from players such as Lenovo, Samsung and Yulong.

Huawei saw strong smartphone demand in Europe, the America's and Africa, while Xiaomi and Oppo saw their smartphone sales in emerging Asia/Pacific rise by 20% and 199%, respectively, said the report.

The reason for this growth of these Chinese brands is that the sales are driven by the demand for low-cost smartphones in emerging markets and affordable 4G smartphones.

However, Samsung extended its market share with a 23% growth on the back of Galaxy S7 phones and was followed by Apple with 14.8% market share dropping from 18% market share.

Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 349 million units in the first quarter of 2016, a 3.9% increase over the same period in 2015, according to Gartner. Smartphone sales represented 78% of total mobile phone sales in the first quarter of 2016.