Chinese handset makers marching worldwide

Posté le 9 mars 2015

The rise of the Chinese smartphone maker has been fast. Not only has Xiaomi recently overtook Samsung as China’s top vendor, china’s indigenous suppliers are stealing the limelight in the global market

Samsung has been leading supplier in China from the first quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2014, but not anymore. According to the data form IDC, Xiaomi captured 12.5 percent of the whole units sold in China during 2014, surpassing Samsung, whose shipments slipped 22% and captured 12.1% of the market share.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi is launching an array of gadgets in US through its ecommerce website.

“Xiaomi will become a global phenomenon.” said John Lindfors, managing partner at DST and the former leader of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Europe technology investment-banking team.

As the world’s most valuable privately held company and the third biggest smartphone maker, Xiaomi sold more than 61 million handsets last year.

As well as Xiaomi, market competitors like Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE have made a name for themselves. At the Mobile World Congress, where the place used to be dominated by big names like Samsung, Chinese companies are holding the biggest stands at the event.

With low market margin and more focus on service, Chinese handset makers are challenging foreign competitors by maintaining a higher margin of up to 40% by offering high-spec products at low prices.

S.Z