China's Xiaomi Overtakes Apple In the Global Smartphone Market (cnbc.com) 26
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi was the second-largest smartphone maker in the second quarter, overtaking Apple, according to analyst firm Canalys. CNBC reports: Xiaomi had a 17% share of global smartphone shipments, ahead of Apple's 14% and behind Samsung's 19%. "Xiaomi is growing its overseas business rapidly," Canalys research manager Ben Stanton said in a press release, noting shipments increased 300% year on year in Latin America and 50% in Western Europe. The Chinese smartphone maker posted year-on-year smartphone shipment growth of 83% versus 15% for Samsung and 1% for Apple. Stanton noted, however, that Xiaomi phones are still skewed toward the mass market, with the average selling price of its handsets 75% cheaper than Apple's.
Huawei (Score:3)
Xiaomi is gaining the market share that Huawei is losing since they've been blacklisted [reuters.com]
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Yeah, I guess the Americans will soon be telling them, "My way or the Huawei"
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You can COUNT on it to happen.
Intel has had the backdoor in their chip for the last 10+ years and no one bats an eye.
It's not about backdoors, it's always about the money. The minute something outsells anything American - It must be spies, wont anyone think of the children, ban them before everyones security is at risk!
Re:Huawei [and the Chinese contagion] (Score:2)
I'm already regretting my recent decision to try an Oppo. Yeah, it's a sweet phone, but the new model of competition is to use political attacks if a company is succeeding too much. If Xiaomi is too successful, you can bet they'll get targeted as a Chinese company. In the least racist way possible, of course. And then it will be Oppo's turn?
Disclaimer needed: I was a quite satisfied customer of Huawei for many years. No, I didn't think Huawei was perfect or a saintly company, but they consistently delivered
Re: Huawei [and the Chinese contagion] (Score:2)
It's very selective racism given most other Asian countries, including Taiwan, aren't under similar scrutiny. A bit of a shot in the dark. Could it be that there is a specific political setup in China that causes the corporate world to act as organs of the party?
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NAK
Apple vs. oranges (Score:1)
Apple has almost always targeted the upper middle class to get higher profit margins per device. Xiaomi goes for market share.
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Xiaomi is the smart phone equivalent of a Nokia?
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Pretty sure they don't crack the asphalt when dropped, so no.
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http://smbc-comics.com/comic/a... [smbc-comics.com]
I think that should be my reaction to every story that mentions any market these days?
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Xiaomi make some really high end models with interesting if slightly gimmicky features. 100MP cameras with motorized zoom, that kind of thing.
MKBHD reviews them from time to time, and they are by all accounts pretty decent phones.
They sell them in the UK and they are popular. You get a lot of phone for your money, the software is good and the hardware is decent. They usually include a screen protector and rubber case in the box too.
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With a starting price of $399, Apple went after the middle and lower classes with the iPhone SE in 2016 and again in 2020 with 2nd generation iPhone SE.
Chum Bucket overtakes Crusty Crab in units served (Score:2)
There's probably a good market in selling unsatisfying devices if it makes people upgrade more often. And if they are upgrading more often they probably will keep opting for the cheaper phone.
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Apple has almost always targeted the upper middle class to get higher profit margins per device. Xiaomi goes for market share.
Erm... no. Apple targeted the lower middle classes with more money than sense. They don't buy Iphones, they rent them on expensive contracts. In the UK even someone on welfare can afford an Iphone this way (and constantly complain about having no data left because their £40 p/m plan only has 1 GB).
What is happening is we've passed peak Apple. Everyone who wants an iphone has one and now Apple is only selling to people who already had an Iphone. Naturally what will occur now is natural attrition as you
Not everyone has the dosh for an iPhone... (Score:1)
One thing Apple and a lot of Android makers are not seeing is that more people either don't have the cash, or just don't care to pay for a flagship phone. For most people, the cameras on a unit that has 2-3 year old technology is good enough. Storage winds up cloud based for the most part, so adding more "geebees" doesn't really impact much after a point, especially with phones that have SD card slots. Plus, why pay $2000 for something that will stop receiving security updates in two years? Apple is far
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> One thing Apple and a lot of Android makers are not seeing is that more people either don't have the cash, or just don't care to pay for a flagship phone.
I buy the flagship phones... after the next flagship is announced/released and the price it pushed down. The only reason I need to do that is to have a phone that still gets android releases. I think planned obsolescence is the biggest driver of smart phones.
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>Android phones tend to lose support relatively quickly, and are thus rendered unusably insecure in a short time after the model is discontinued.
Does anyone care outside of nerdy people who think of privacy and security, though? From what I observed around me, the only reason people change their phones (outside of a an accident involving gravity and a shattered screen) is the phone slowing down to a crawl and being unable to handle the continuously bloating apps it comes with by default. This isnt helped
Restrictive Trade Agreements (Score:2)
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True, Android phones don't get updates for as long, but you can get phones like the Moto G10 for £120, where the cheapest iPhone is £399. Even if the iPhone lasts 5 years, the Android phone being disposed of every 3 years is still a better deal at £240 total instead of £399. Plus, the phone you get in 3 years will probably outperform that iPhone.
Company sells more of 75% cheaper phones (Score:2)
Who would have thought.
Distinguish manufacturers from brands. (Score:3, Informative)
Unlike Apple and Samsung, some manufacturers have more than one brand. In particular the Chinese ones love to do this*.
For instance:
- Xiaomi has Redmi, Mijia and POCO.
- BBK has Oppo, Vivo, Realme, IQOO.
- TCL has TCL, Alcatel, Palm (and not long ago Blackberry).
So, when this reports come (and this particular one seems to be a preliminary report), some people get confused, and think of manufacturers, when the report signals only brands.
If you dig deeper, and focus on manufacturers instead of brands, Samsung is #1, BBK is #2, Xiaomi is #3 and Apple is #4.
Food for tought
* And before you say anything, this is exactly what the fathers of positioning Ries & Trout said is the way to do things.