Although it is not our market, it is interesting to see a brand that is quite popular in our country being taken over by a foreign brand in its home country. Although there is a constant battle for market share between Xiaomi and Apple, Xiaomi has just made a big splash. The Chinese mobile market is in such a slump that it is a 'joy' to watch, and Apple has overtaken Xiaomi.
The Counterpoint Research released a report showing that smartphone sales in China fell by 14.2% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022. Quarterly sales were down 12.6% from the first quarter, which was hit by the fifth wave of Covid-19, and less than half the historic peak reached in the fourth quarter of 2016. The last time sales were lower than this quarter was in the fourth quarter of 2012, when the iPhone 5 hit the market nearly a decade ago.
In Q2 2022, vivo retained the top spot with a share of 19.8%, followed by Honor (18.3%), OPPO (17.9%), Apple (15.5%), Xiaomi (14.9%), Huawei (6.9%), realme (2.4%). It should be noted that OPPO includes OnePlus, Xiaomi includes Redmi and vivo includes iQOO.
According to Counterpoint analysts, vivo maintained its leading position this quarter. The S12 series helped vivo gain a decent share of the mid- to upper-range segment between $250 and $399 (approximately $99,740 to $159,000). The iQOO sub-brand also received positive market feedback, especially from young consumer groups.
But the biggest surprise was the decline of the most expensive brand, Apple, but still ahead of Xiaomi by a significant margin. Apple came out of this crisis the best with a drop of only 5.8%, while Xiaomi's loss of 23.3% in sales is quite significant. Although it is not the biggest loss among market participants, Apple still overtook Xiaomi.
