Chinese products spice up global smartphone market 

Smartphones will become cheaper in a few years’ time. That is for certain. What is unpredictable is by how much. A reliable market report made public a few days ago had China account for 10 of the top 14 world suppliers last year, with a staggering market share of 39 per cent. At the current rate, the Chinese manufacturers could soon be breathing down the necks of Samsung and Apple, who have the biggest and second biggest market shares respectively.
In total, Samsung and Apple shipped 526 million smartphones last year, but their combined market share dropped to 35 per cent, compared with 39 per cent in 2015. Samsung’s sales were down by four per cent while Apple’s dropped by seven per cent. This is despite the fact that the world market grew by four per cent.
Seven of the top 10, and 10 of the top 14, companies were headquartered in China. The only non-Chinese firms in the top 14 are two South Korean companies (Samsung and LG), one US company (Apple) and one Taiwanese company (Asus). The two fastest-growing smartphone suppliers last year, with each growing almost 90 per cent, are Oppo and Vivo, both of them owned by the same China-based parent company, BBK Electronics. 
Analysts say the combined market share of Samsung and Apple remain strong, but the fact that they are losing ground to up-and-coming Chinese makers like Huawei, Oppo and Vivo is more than noticeable. Huawei, having the third biggest market share, shipped 139.3 million units last year, a 33 per cent growth from 104.8 million units the year before. Samsung’s share was 310.7 million units last year, compared with 322.9 million units in 2015. Apple's share also dropped, from 231.6 million units sold in 2015 to 215.4 million units last year.
Overall, 1,490 million smartphones were shipped last year, an increase of 4 per cent from the year before. The situation in Thailand has also mirrored the worldwide trend, with Samsung and Apple being the biggest and second-biggest market leaders respectively, with major Chinese brands like Oppo and Huawei gaining some ground on them. Thai market observers say Samsung and Apple have managed to hold sway largely because of brand credibility, meaning that for users who care more about specifications, Chinese products have presented themselves more and more as alternatives.
The good news is that greater competition always benefits the buyers. The bad news is that a price war can end up in the kind of truce that often cuts short the consumers’ heyday. Up-and-coming manufacturers usually begin by selling their products cheaply and there may come a point where they consider “cheap” prices a “negative” image. Samsung can be a case in point. When the company first attempted to challenge the market leaders before it, the firm used cheaper prices and competitive specifications, but its pricing policy has long been changed.
Chinese smartphones will undoubtedly keep the pricing of Samsung and Apple products from spiralling out of control. That there are many Chinese suppliers can also serve as checks and balances among themselves. Simply put, if any of them tries to “do a Samsung”, the others can trigger a price war that will only benefit consumers.
Better and cheaper smartphones seem around the corner. When China joins the fray, the market can be very fluid. One thing is for sure, though: While Chinese products are not best known for their qualities, their presence is enough to keep the manufacturers on other parts of the world on their toes. From the buyers’ perspective, that can only be good.