 and Samsung (KRX:005930) in their home country.){kind=link}
Chinese rival brands are providing increasingly tough competition for technology giants Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung (KRX:005930) in their home country, with Huawei’s Honor smartphone topping the market in January.
Huawei’s Honor sold 2.02 million units in January 2017 alone, market research firm Sino-Market Research said on Friday, gaining 23 per cent market share. This is an 18.8 percent increase on January last year.
The Xiaomi brand took second place, selling 1.94 million units in January 2017 and gaining 22.1 per cent market share, registering a decrease of 22 per cent in volume over January 2016.
Apple’s iPhone fell from the top spot for the first time since 2012, making the US technology giant “vulnerable” in the world’s second-largest economy. iPhone have had increasing trouble attracting consumers in China, where cheaper alternatives are providing tough competition.
“Apple with slowing traction for its flagship iPhone 6S during last year saw its double-digit negative growth being somewhat offset by relatively healthy demand for the newer flagship iPhone 7 series in Q4 2016,” research by Counterpoint, released at the end of January, said.
“However, Apple still remains in a vulnerable position and there is higher expectation already with the next year flagship which is rumoured to be substantial upgrade from both design and components perspective.”
With only 2.5 per cent of market share in January this year, Samsung dropped to ninth spot in China, the findings showed.