Oppo R9 replaces iPhone as top selling phone in China

A report released last Friday by Counterpoint Research said Apple was no longer the most popular device in the world’s second-largest economy. For the past few years, the Cupertino-based company has seen mostly incremental improvements in an era where Chinese competitors are progressing far more rapidly.

This is certainly great news for Oppo Electronics, which sold 17 million units of the flagship Oppo R9 last year. For comparison, the iPhone 6S sold 12 million units. The report said “slowing traction” for the iPhone 6S is a sign that Apple remains in a “vulnerable position.”

When it comes to the Chinese market, the last few quarters have not been kind to Apple. According to Counterpoint, its market share has fallen from 14.3 percent in 2015 to 10.4 percent last year. A major reason for this has been heightened competition from Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, the latter two of which have focused on price-to-performance ratio in order to break into the market.

It’s not all bad news for Apple, however. Chinese consumers were more excited for the iPhone 7 and there's hope that the device's successor will deliver some much needed innovation in terms of design and components. Apple will have to deliver on this upcoming device in order to reverse the company's fortunes.

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