December 28, 2016 - As the largest market for smartphones, China has seen a decreased market share held by leading phone-makers including Apple and Samsung in 2016, with domestic brands being the biggest beneficiaries of these drop-offs, Economic Information reported on Dec. 28.
Samsung's market share dropped by 14.2 percent in the third quarter of 2016, the company's worst performance to date, which has mainly been attributed to battery explosions of Samsung phones over the past year.
Meanwhile, Samsung's foreign peer, Apple, has also failed to maintain its earlier performance. With steadily decreasing sales, Apple has lost China as it's second largest market. One factor in this decline may be insufficient innovation. More and more Chinese customers are now moving to domestic brands.
Since the first quarter of 2016, shipments of Chinese smartphones for the first time surpassed the totals of Apple and Samsung. Statistics from global market intelligenceprovider TrendForce showed that production of Chinese smartphones reached 600 millionin 2016, accounting for 45 percent of the global total. (People's Daily)