Apple Loses Its Fourth Place in the Chinese Smartphone Market

According to market research firm Canalys, Apple is no longer the king of smartphones. Apple has fallen to fifth place in China’s booming smartphone market as the home-grown company Xiaomi beats the US tech giant and became number fourth in China’s smartphone market.

In 2016 Huawei shipped 76.2 million units of smartphones which made the company grab the 1st position in China. Oppo, another Chinese company that is popular with its catch line “camera phone” shipped 73.2 million units, and Vivo shipped 63.2 million units respectively. Xiaomi shipped 51.4 million units of smartphones with a 21% year-on-year (YoY) downfall and its market share decreased from 15.2% in 2015 to 10.7% in 2016. Apple shipped 43.8 million units of iPhones throughout the last year with a year-on-year decline of 18.2%.

In China’s smartphone market, Apple experiences its first year-on-year downfall compared to last year. Analysts say, the company’s phone is continuing to rise with its cheaper alternatives and there is no more craziness among customers regarding iPhone 7 compared to previous launches by the company.

Apple faced the same problem at the beginning of the current year. As a result, Apple’s revenue was down by 8% in China. As of now, Apple’s success depends on the upcoming phones, and iPhone 8 can be the game changer for the company as customers are expecting the flagship this year, which is the most awaited phone by the company.

In Apple’s global top ten markets, China and Hong Kong are still effective areas. China’s consumers are expecting something huge on the 10th anniversary of the iPhone.