Chinese manufacturers keeping smartphone market competitive

Market analytics firm IDC released its numbers for the global smartphone market late last month to show that both Apple and Samsung have each sold fewer smartphones than the same period last year. A reason for the lower sales may be the rise of Chinese manufacturers including the likes of Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo. These latter two manufacturers in particular have been growing very quickly this year to worry other competitors including Xiaomi and Lenovo.

If current trends continue, it's possible that Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo could collectively overtake Apple and Samsung as market leaders. Both Apple and Samsung control 32.5 percent of the smartphone market as of Q3 2016, which is their lowest since 2012 according to Statista. Both companies have reported slower sales this past quarter despite the smartphone market growing just slightly overall.

Another possibility is that Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo will hit their respective plateaus sooner rather than later for more stable sales moving forward. Both Huawei and Xiaomi are attempting to avoid early saturation by expanding into more regions around the world including the recent launch of the Honor 8 in the United States. Huawei is also expanding its product portfolio to include notebooks which have received positive reviews so far.

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