Counterpoint Research has released its report on the smartphone market share in China for the third quarter of this year. One would assume that Huawei is still in the lead, but that does not seem to be the case, according to Counterpoint, OPPO actually took charge, and is now the first placed smartphone manufacturer in China, at least it was in the third quarter of this year. Read on if you’re interested.
According to Counterpoint, OPPO had managed to grab 18.9 percent of the market share in China in the third quarter of this year, while Huawei is closed second with 18.6 percent. Vivo is actually tied with Huawei, as the company grabbed 18.6 percent of the market as well, while Xiaomi is fourth-placed, the company managed to take 13.8 percent of the market in Q3 2017. Apple is listed as the fifth-placed company on Counterpoint’s list, the Cupertino giant won 10 percent of the market, while 17.5 percent is left for all the other companies that are selling smartphones in the country. Sales of every single company on this list (well, the top 5 ones) grew YoY, OPPO held 16.5 percent in Q3 2016, while Huawei had 14.9 percent of the market a year before. Same can be said for Vivo, Xiaomi and Apple as well, these three companies held 16.1 percent, 10.3 percent and 8.5 percent in Q3 last year, so all of them grew a bit YoY.
Counterpoint notes that Apple could drastically improve its situation in Q4 2017 if they managed to sell a lot of iPhone X handsets, though the source also noted that Apple still reigns supreme in the premium segment of smartphones ($500+). Counterpoint also notes that offline distribution is key for Xiaomi to catch up to the rest of the pack, Xiaomi was selling its smartphone online exclusively until a while back when the company started opening up retail stores in China. Xiaomi has quite a few retail stores active at the moment, and it’s gaining momentum, so it could improve its position in Q4 2017 quite a bit. There you have it, OPPO barely took the lead in Q3 2017, and it remains to be seen what will Q4 2017 look like, though Huawei will probably remain the number one smartphone manufacturer in China on a yearly basis.