According to a Hong Kong-based research firm, Samsung's smartphone sales dropped by more than half in China in the first quarter of 2017 as the company lost ground to local manufacturers Huawei, Oppo and Vivo.
More specifically, shipments of the firm's smartphones in the region decreased by around 60 percent year-on-year to 3.5 million units in the first quarter. Its market share also plummeted to 3.3 percent from 8.6 percent.
For comparison, shipments of Huawei, Oppo and Vivo handsets increased by 25 percent, 81 percent and 60 percent, respectively, with the former holding a majority market share of 19.7 percent.
“Oppo and Vivo were the fastest growing brands followed by Huawei, together cementing the top three spots and extending their lead over Apple, Xiaomi and Samsung by a widening margin,” said Neil Shah, a researcher at Counterpoint Technology Market Research.
The strong sales of Chinese smartphones were driven by their affordable prices, convenient distribution channels and localized app services. Samsung's devices, on the other hand, are more expensive and are only available from offline agents.
