Chinese smartphone manufacturers are slowly affirming their grip in the Singapore market, as latest statistics from GfK Asia indicate that one in five smartphones sold in the country's market is from Chinese vendors. Even though the popularity of Chinese smartphones are on the rise in Singapore, they are yet to pose a threat to premium manufacturers like Samsung and Apple.
The major players among the Chinese smartphones are gadgets made by Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi. By providing high-end smartphones in a very feasible rate, these gadgets are slowly on the way to overcome the dominance created by Samsung and Apple in the Singapore market.
Chinese vendors marking their strong presence
For the first time in history, the combined sales of smartphones from Chinese manufacturers have crossed the 20 percent mark in the Singapore market this year. Statistics from January - August 2017 shows a steady increase in Chinese smartphones sale. In this time period, Chinese phones accounted for 21.6 percent of the smartphones sale in the country, a steady rise when compared to the 15 percent during the same timeframe last year.
Chinese phones were considered inferior over other top brands before five years in the Singapore market. In 2012, the sale of Chinese phones was just 4.3 percent in the market, and it steadily rose to 14.6 and 17.8 percent in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
According to the statistics, the overall smartphone to shipments to Singapore from all vendors was more than 1.5 million, and out of this figure, Chinese smartphones accounted for 12 percent of the shipment.
Huawei is the most popular Chinese brand in Singapore, as 4.3 percent of the shipment was from this company, followed by Xiaomi and Oppo.
Reasons behind the increased popularity of Chinese smartphones
Price is undoubtedly the first and foremost reason which plays a crucial role behind the popularity of Chinese smartphones. Most of the Chinese phones are "priced at a very reasonable amount, and the specifications they offer can be compared with any high-end phone" made by Samsung and Apple.
Xiaomi and Oppo offer smartphones at a rate as low as $169. On the other hand, elite editions of Huawei are available from $900.
Apart from Singapore, Chinese smartphones are gaining immense popularity in countries like India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Recent statistics indicate that Chinese smartphones are now emerging as the hottest pick among people in Europe and the US. As per IDC's worldwide quarterly data, smartphones from Chinese manufacturers were shipped more to various countries all across the globe in the second quarter of 2017 when compared to the same period in 2016.
Consolidated shipping of companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo made up 25.6 percent of global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2017. In the same time period, Samsung and Apple have shipped 23.6 and 12 percent of the overall shipments respectively.
Tay Xiaohan, senior research manager for client devices at IDC said that even though the popularity of Chinese smartphones are increasing, Samsung and Apple still dominate the Singapore market, making up a sale of more than 70 percent.
