Huawei is back at the top of its game, at least when it comes to the Chinese market. For the first quarter of 2017, it has regained the top spot in its native country, moving past one of its many arch-rivals, Oppo. The good news for Chinese OEMs is that the top 3 brands, all local ones of course, now account for more than 50% of the shipments in the first quarter of 2017, with Huawei leading the charge, followed by Oppo and Vivo.
Earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Huawei launched its newest flagship devices, the P10 and P10 Plus. The good performance of its previous flagships as well as its other lines like Honor and its huge online marketing push has allowed it to regain the top spot, shipping close to 21 million units in the first quarter, accounting for 18% of the market share. There were 114 million smartphones shipped to China by March 31, 2017 and more than half of that came from the top three brands.
Oppo had a strong annual growth of 55%, but it was only good for second place, with just under 20 million units shipped. Third-placed Vivo had a 15% market share with 17 million units. Same time last year, Xiaomi was third but now it is just 5th in the market shipping just 9 million units, and they’re even behind Apple and its iPhones.
Huawei is planning to increase investments in its offline channels this year, so expect it to continue to be at the top of the Chinese market. Oppo and Vivo will continue to challenge it, while Xiaomi may probably have to switch gears when it comes to how the market perceives it in order to compete with the three. Canalys Research Analyst Mo Jia says it may have to become an aspirational brand now rather than the value-for-money image it has been projecting.
SOURCE: Canalys
