Oppo overtakes iPhones in global sales
Apple’s iPhone market is shrinking due to the onslaught of Chinese phone makers, according to recent market data released by IHSMarkit. The tech giant’s device has been knocked out of the top-three smartphone seller list by Oppo.
Apple’s global smartphone sales were 35.3 million sets in the second quarter as compared to 36.2 million units sold by Oppo. However, South Korea’s Samsung continued to rule the roost with a 23% share of the smartphone market. The company shipped as many as 75.1 million units while China’s Huawei also shipped 58.7 million units to claim 18% of the market thereby retaining its number two spot.
Apple, according to IHS research and analysis director Jusy Hong, is unlikely to immediately make it back to the top three positions as the company “continues to face challenges in terms of unit shipments.”
Hong said that even though Apple has been pro-actively promoting iPhones, phone buyers are uncomfortable to pay “super-premium” for some of its devices while its competitor in the Android-powered market are coming out with handsets that have the same or more features.
However, in contrast to HIS report, another smartphone market trackers like the Counterpoint Research and the International Data noted that iPhone shipments have sank in the second quarter, but Apple is still in the third place in terms of global shipments.
Huawei on the other hand, despite the US action against the company, saw its sales rising. Having being restricted from using Google’s Android platform in some of its devices post-Trump’s war against the company, Huawei just got stronger with the launch of its own operating system called HarmonyOS.
As per the latest data produced by Counterpoint, the combined international smartphone market share of Chinese companies - Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Realme – is now 42% in the second quarter.
Counterpoint analyst Varun Mihsra said that Chinese brands are aggressively expanding in the global market as their home market is at the point of saturation. One of their strongest marketing strategies is their ability to realign their devices to local needs and preferences, he added.
Apple of late is trying to wean the company’s reliance on iPhone sales by focusing on services, digital content and related devices. In the last quarter, the company for the first time raked in less than half its revenue from iPhone sales. However, the company said that its sales have improved in China by a double-digit due to strong growth in the App Store in that country.