Lenovo and Xiaomi have lost their places at fourth and fifth respectively, as the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world.
The two well know smart well known manufacturers were pushed down by fellow Chinese companies Oppo (4th) and vivo (5th). It’s a surprising development as Lenovo-Motorola are well established, and Xiaomi are hyped to be the next far-east company to dip their toes into the western market.
Lenovo and Xiaomi saw success initially due to selling phones with low average selling prices. Lenovo’s average selling price was $150 in 2013 and Xiaomi devices were $200 on average in in 2014 and 2015.
The IDC claim Chinese consumers have matured with smartphones, China’s smartphone adoption is seeing an upwards curve, basically consumers are dashing aside the training wheels and now want a big boy bike.
“Now Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo, which play mainly in the sub-US$250 range, are positioned for a strong 2016,” writes IDC researcher Melissa Chau.
The desire for more premium device is noticed as the average selling price of a smartphone rose from $207 (2013) to $257 (2015).
It seems once consumers get a taste of a smartphone, they’ll desire better device that are worth spending a little more. Handsets are slowly being deemed as an investment by consumers in China.
While the numbers prove to be disappointing for both Lenovo and Xiaomi, we can expect big things from both companies this year. Rumours are swirling of a new Moto device to follow the Moto X Style, and the Moto G4 is expected to be announced next month.
Xiaomi has recently impressed with the released of the Mi5, a powerful device running the Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM for the jaw dropping price of… wait for it $260 (£180). Expect the Mi5 to impact things next quarter.
For more news visit What Mobile’s dedicated news page.
Via IDC.