Apple is the only non-Chinese brand to have its phones in the top 10 best-selling handsets list in China this year. As per a Counterpoint Research report, Apple's iPhone 7 Plus managed a market share of 2.8 percent in the country. The iPhone 7 Plus was the second best selling phone in the country to the big-display Oppo R9s, which had an overall market share of 3 percent. Meanwhile, the iPhone 7, with a 2.4 percent market share, was placed in the fifth spot in the list of best-selling handsets in China.
Counterpoint analyst James Yan, in a blog post on Monday, said that the iPhone 7 duo - which launched in September 2016 - got a "plain" response in the first half of 2017, but sales picked up in the second half of the year due to a price drop after the launch of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.
"iPhone 7 Plus performed better than iPhone 7, demonstrating that currently in China market price may not be the only concern among consumers," Yan added.
Meanwhile, Vivo X9 and Oppo A57 were the other two smartphones in Counterpoint's top five best-selling handsets list. China is a highly competitive smartphone market and is now dominated by local Chinese smartphone manufacturers. As per an IDC report, Huawei occupied 19.4 percent of the market share in the third quarter of 2017, followed by Oppo (18.8 percent), Vivo (16.4 percent), and Xiaomi (13.7 percent). Incidentally, Apple was positioned fifth in the list, with a market share of 7.7 percent. In the top-selling list, there are three Oppo handsets, two from Vivo, Apple, and Honor each, and only one from Xiaomi.
Additionally, the report says Oppo's success can be attributed to its extensive offline stores and a continuous focus on pitching its products as selfie experts. Also, most of the Oppo smartphones are priced in the $200 (roughly Rs. 12,800) to $450 (roughly Rs. 28,700) segment, which is the most popular segment in the Chinese market. The report says, "Instead of filling the market with extensive selection of models (like Samsung), Oppo have comparatively offered limited number of models and put more muscles behind promotion of key products."
Top 10 best-selling smartphones in China (according to Counterpoint Research):
Honor Enjoy 6X
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