Apple Loses Chinese Smartphone Market to Two Local Manufacturers: Bloomberg

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According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple has lost the Chinese smartphone market to two local manufacturers which couldn’t even crack the top five only two years ago.

The two manufacturers are Oppo and Vivo, which have pushed Apple aside in China’s smartphone market. The increase in popularity for both companies can be attributed to people like Cheng Xiaoning, which runs a thriving electronics store in the town of Miaoxia.

Cheng taps into her WeChat social media account to promote various brands, including Oppo and Vivo. Both smartphone manufacturers excel in China due to their very low starting price points. In a statement, Cheng said:

“That’s why I like to introduce the Oppo R9 Plus to potential customers. Business has been perfect, actually never been better.”

In China’s more rural provinces, Oppo and Vivo have come out of nowhere to take over the majority of the smartphone market, knocking out Xiaomi as a result.

Both companies were founded by billionaire Duan Yong Ping and employ similar marketing strategies. Oppo and Vivo try to target customers in more rural areas of China, leaving high-profile cities like Beijing and Shanghai to the larger companies like Apple and Samsung.

China has been a large influence in Apple’s growth over the years. In fiscal 2015, Apple generated almost $59 billion in sales from China, which was double the sales from just two years prior.

Do you think Apple has a chance in competing with Oppo and Vivo’s low-cost strategy in more rural parts of China? Will the iPhone SE be enough for Apple in lower-cost markets? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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