The Chinese smartphone market is set to become even more competitive in the second half of the year, industry sources said on Monday, noting how all major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the Far Eastern country are looking to introduce significant hardware advancements in an effort to increase their local footprint. Huawei, Xiaomi, and the BBK Electronics-owned OPPO and Vivo are currently developing bezel-less devices that are meant to be the next evolution of their product lineups and prompt consumers to purchase them due to their unique design, sources said.
Apart from the new display technologies, Chinese OEMs are also looking to improve the battery life and memory capacity of their offerings, especially in the mid-range and premium market segment, insiders revealed, implying how major phone makers in the country are gradually reducing their focus on entry-level devices and are transitioning to products that can ensure higher profit margins. Local market leader Huawei is expected to officially announce the Mate 10 in the coming weeks and should release the phablet by early fall, recent reports indicate. The consumer electronics manufacturer held more than a fifth of the Chinese smartphone market in the second quarter of the year and is hoping to solidify its lead with another premium device, though its largest competitors all have similar plans. It’s currently unclear how Huawei’s new business strategy aimed at improving profit margins will impact its subsidiary Honor and its aggressively priced offerings that are still popular in the Far Eastern country and a number of other markets.
Being the second largest phone vendor in China, OPPO is now looking to increase the gap between its performance and that of its sister company Vivo and possibly catch up to Huawei in the near future. The recently introduced R11 is reportedly doing rather well and was an important part of the firm’s improving shipment numbers which surpassed 20 million units in the second quarter of the year. Industry sources believe that the R11 will maintain its performance in the near future, largely thanks to OPPO’s robust retail network in the country and its insistence to keep revising the device.