Oppo has taken over as the best-selling mobile phone manufacturer in China for the first time ever. In other words: Huawei is no longer the largest in its home country.
The analysis company Counterpoint Research reports the new sales figures and says that Oppo had 21 percent of the Chinese mobile market in January. Due to its enormous size and technological development, China is considered the world’s largest smartphone market.
However, Huawei is not far behind with a market share of 20 percent, followed by Vivo at just 20 percent, while Apple and Xiaomi have 16 percent each.
Trouble for Huawei
Huawei has lost its top spot. Oppo’s strong growth is said to have come at the expense of Huawei’s gradually declining grip on the Chinese market. It began after the US trade sanctions were introduced in May 2019, when Huawei was no longer allowed to use US goods. It included both critical hardware components, but also important parts of the Android mobile operating system.
Before the sanctions, they were set to bypass Samsung to become the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer during 2019, but with limited access to key components and no full-fledged Android, it became impossible.
According to Counterpoint, Huawei has focused more on the high-end market, as a result of the lack of components after the sanctions. They also had to sell off the subsidiary Honor, which has now become a direct competitor.
The research company believes that Oppo’s growth will continue and that they will retain first place in the Chinese market in the coming months as well.
