Oppo R9s dominates the Chinese smartphone market

China is a massive market for smartphone makers, but it is also a rather special one. Samsung is almost anonymous there, while Apple is the only brand from the outside with a noticeable presence. Although Huawei is leading the Chinese smartphone market overall, the best-selling handset for 2017 was the mid-range Oppo R9s.

According to Counterpoint Research, bezel-less handsets "made a big buzz in the market" in the second half of 2017, and the Chinese smartphone market closed the year with a flat growth. The list of the top 5 best-selling smartphones in China for 2017 is quite surprising, as you can see below: 

• Oppo R9s (3 percent)
• iPhone 7 Plus (2.8 percent)
• Vivo X9 (2.7 percent)
• Oppo A57 (2.6 percent)
• iPhone 7 (2.4 percent)

The next ones in the list are the Oppo R11 and the Vivo Y66. The most popular Huawei handset is the Honor 8 Lite, with a market share of only 1.9 percent. The other Huawei smartphone to make it in the top 10 is the Honor Enjoy 6X, which got the last position with a share of 1.7 percent. Between them, we find the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X.

Although the numbers mentioned earlier might seem small, the average monthly sales of all these models exceeded 1 million. Obviously, most of them are mid-range handsets, except the two Apple handsets.

Counterpoint Research expects that this year's top 10 models will feature a bezel-less display, while consumers will continue to focus on affordable models with a main camera setup that is capable of providing mobile photography results above the average.