Domestic smartphone brands often claim to have outperformed Apple. However, each of these “number one” spots comes with qualifiers, such as sales for a particular week or within a certain price range. Recently, OnePlus China’s President, Li Jie, lifted the veil on these claims, noting that Apple is actually the number one smartphone brand in the Chinese market when looking at the whole year.
Li Jie pointed out that according to data from market research firm BCI, as of December 17, 2022, the top three brands in the domestic smartphone market in terms of market share were Apple, Honor, and OPPO, with shares of 17.1%, 15.3%, and 14% respectively. These figures don’t include their respective sub-brands. For example, if OPPO’s market share included the additional 2% from OnePlus, OPPO’s market share would rise to 16%, securing the second place in the domestic market.
He also noted that a certain cost-effective brand has only a 3% market share, which is a far cry from its claims of last year’s models 13 and 14 being hot sellers. This figure is just over a third of Apple’s, let alone surpassing it. Li’s statement effectively strips away this cost-effective brand’s figurative “cover-up”.
This particular value-for-money brand positioned its series 14 as a competitor not to the iPhone 15 but to the iPhone 15 Pro, which is equipped with Apple’s 3-nanometer A17 processor – currently, the only 3nm chip on the market. Meanwhile, their series 14 features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which has a performance comparable to Apple’s A14 chip. Essentially, there’s little to no room for comparison. The series 14, however, is priced at only 3999 yuan, which is just half the price of the iPhone 15 Pro.
Domestic smartphone brands are keen to carve out a larger share of the high-end market because it offers more substantial profits. Success in this segment also elevates a brand’s stature. Therefore, they frequently compare their flagship models to the iPhone in an effort to allure consumers.
However, the data mentioned shows that despite attempts to benchmark against Apple, domestic smartphones have faced a significant setback in the national market for 2023. This year marked the first time Apple captured the title of the best-selling smartphone brand for the year in China, an unprecedented feat, highlighting that even with home-court advantage, domestic brands couldn’t halt Apple’s stride.
In an attempt to prove they can outdo Apple, domestic brands scrutinize data to find evidence of their “victories,” breaking down sales metrics from yearly to quarterly, then monthly, and now the often-quoted weekly sales figures.
One value-oriented brand claimed its victory over Apple was in weekly sales. Market analysis agencies, catering to the agendas of smartphone companies, frequently release such weekly sales figures. According to their data, in the first week of November and the last two weeks of December 2023, this value-oriented brand’s shipment volume in the domestic market surpassed Apple’s—though by a slim margin of 10,000 to 20,000 units, still signifying its triumph.
However, as the OnePlus executive mentioned, this value-oriented brand only holds a 3% market share for the entire year in the domestic smartphone market. Its sales are mainly supported by the cost-effectiveness of its models and low-end phones. The brand’s value-oriented and low-end segments combined command just over an 11% domestic market share, enough to place it fifth in the national market. It seems that since seizing the top spot in the third quarter of 2014, this brand has not had another opportunity to dominate the Chinese smartphone market.
It is evident that despite frequent claims to be catching up with Apple, domestic smartphone brands’ so-called victories often contain significant embellishments. Meanwhile, despite some criticism, consumers continue to support Apple with their wallets. The dedicated following of high-quality iPhone users doesn’t pay much heed to the disparaging remarks of domestic smartphone brands, often perceiving them as inferior.