The short answer is yes, at least according to one market research firm. The latest report from TrendForce is out, and the survey shows that smartphone shipments in 2015 grew 10.3 percent year-on-year to 1.293 billion units, nearly half of which, or 539 million, came from brands from the Far East.
By the end of the year, 45 percent of the worldwide market will belong to China’s phone makers, meaning there’s a good chance the next smartphone you buy might be a Huawei, Lenovo, or OPPO.
Top 10 smartphone vendors based on market share, according to TrendForce
Unsurprisingly, smartphones built by Chinese companies make up majority of the global market, with 6 out of the top 10 phone brands in 2015 all based in Beijing, Shenzhen, or Guangdong. Apple, LG, Sony, and top-seller Samsung, which shipped 320 million units last year, round out the list.
Smartphone shipments in 2015 grew 10.3 percent year-on-year to 1.293 billion units, nearly half of which came from Chinese brands.
But the real takeaway here is that Chinese outfits are catching up fast — and they still have a lot of markets to look at to drive growth. The U.S. market remains a ray of sunshine for many China-based phone makers, including Huawei. Speaking of the third-largest mobile vendor globally, Huawei sold a record 108 million units the previous year; this year, the company expects to ship 130 million devices.
Fourth-place Xiaomi’s shipments for 2015 reached 72 million units, representing 17.8 percent on-year growth. Lenovo (and Motorola) ranked fifth and shipped an estimated 70 million units in the same period.
In a press statement, OPPO said that it sold 50 million phones in 2015, registering a staggering 67 percent growth over the same period a year ago. Considering there are significantly fewer countries where OPPO handsets are sold, and even fewer carrier partnerships to grow the business, as opposed to, say, a household name like LG, that’s quite an achievement. And in case you’re wondering how many phones LG shipped last year, the magic number is 60 million.
OPPO sold 50 million phones in 2015, registering a staggering 67 percent growth over the same period a year ago.
TrendForce expects the same companies to come out on top again by end-2016, while also noting that most Chinese phone brands will gain market share going forward.
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