While Xiaomi’s high-end phones from the ‘Mi’ series have been getting rave reviews and a lot of media footage, they however haven’t nearly as much as their budget Redmi phones.
Despite that, Xiaomi’s ouster from the top 5 global phone makers (according to IDC) is quite a revelation. This of course, represents data gathered from the first three months of 2016 – Q1 ’16.
According to this report, the following are the top 5 phone makers globally:
- Samsung, with 81.9 million smartphone shipments
- Apple, with 51.2 million smartphone shipments
- Huawei, with 27.5 million smartphone shipments
- OPPO, with 18.5 million smartphone shipments
- Vivo, with 14.3 million smartphone shipments
Interesting to note is that unlike Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo both have strong offline presence. That combined with the fact that almost all to-be first time smartphone buyers have completed their phone purchases is what contribute to Xiaomi’s downfall.
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Three of the five brands are Chinese. And most Chinese phone makers lack presence in Western markets, which is what all of them are eying right now.
Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team had the following to say: “Outside of China, many of these brands are virtually unknown and the ability of these rapidly growing Chinese vendors to gain entry into mature markets such as the United States and Western Europe will be essential if they have aspirations of catching Apple or Samsung at the top.”
I am mystified as to how Oppo and Vivo are doing so well. I haven’t seen a phone by either that I would want to buy. Their phones seem to be to be either too expensive of to have mediocre battery life or both. Maybe they are fashionable, they do look nice but I want better functional value for money.
Yes they are both expensive, but as Apple and Samsung have shown – price doesn’t always matter. Some people will buy their products at any cost and they are the 2 biggest phone makers in the world.
I agree: everytime I see an article about an upcoming oppo or vivo phone, I read it only for the fun of guessing how much overpriced it will be…
I’m not surprised by Oppo’s and Vivo’s success, ’cause their products are (from my pov) top notch compared to other chinese brands, Xiaomi included. You can’t compare Xiaomi’s camera to Oppo’s or Vivo’s, as an exemple ^^
What kind of functionalities are lacking in Oppo/Vivo phones, from your pov ?
That was a problem 2 years ago, which has been solved by software optimization. I didn’t read R9 or Xplay 5 had same issues as their 2014 counterparts.
I did not mean to imply that Oppo/Vivo lacked anything, only that I don’t see what you get for the extra money you have to pay for them. I’m not into cameras so I don’t care about that department.
I would say better camera/sound, better build quality, better design. Not all at the same time on each model, and it depends which brand you choose to compare with Oppo/Vivo, but globally thats the point, i think.
I am happy with the Meizu Pro 5 which has all I want and you can buy it now for around $400 – the Oppo R Plus (listed at $499) is unlikely to have anywhere near as good battery life. I only need to charge the Meizu Pro 5 every 48 hours and it is rated very high on battery life on GSM Arena’s battery life list. Battery life is my number one priority.
I get your point. Maybe you should throw in the balance technologies like VOOC or QC when you think about battery life. It makes a difference IMHO.
Just been looking at specs of some Vivo phones, most have small batteries although one of their latest, the XPlay 5 Elite has a 3600 mAh battery, but I’ve seen it listed at $699.99. I would never pay that much for this phone for the same reason I wouldn’t buy a high end Samsung phone – way too expensive when there are, for me, plenty of high enough end phones for a lot less money. The new LeTV phones are going to be a lot less expensive than last year’s, for example.
I am mystified by your comment. I have bought the last 2 Oppo phones and the last 3 Vivo phones because I am a kind of phone collector and all are remarkable phones. Vivo phones have an excellent autonomy and very good sound. Not the cheapest phones, sure, but all five were much more attaching than the mainstream Samsung or Apple than every other old lady carries.