news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

chinese mobile phones have occupied nearly 80% of the russian market, and their share is still increasing. 2024 has become the "big year for chinese brand smartphones to go overseas".

according to a report by overseas network citing the russian website rambler.ru, china's smartphone exports to russia increased significantly in the first half of this year. from january to july, china's smartphone supply to russia increased by 20% year-on-year, with a total export value of us$1.47 billion.

in addition to russia, the sales growth of chinese smartphone brands in india, africa, southeast asia and other regions in the second quarter far exceeded that of overseas mobile phone brands. industry insiders told reporters that chinese mobile phones provide better cost-effectiveness, richer product lines, faster update iterations, and more complete after-sales services in these regions, and have achieved an "explosion" in mobile phone exports under the recovery of global mobile phone consumption.

chinese mobile phones are hot in russia, accounting for nearly 80% of the market

according to a report by china news service citing the "news", in 2023, chinese brand smartphones accounted for 79% of russia's imported smartphones, 4 percentage points higher than in 2022 and 29 percentage points higher than in 2021. among them, xiaomi is the smartphone brand with the largest number of imports to russia, accounting for nearly 30% of the total imports (9.1 million units). tecno and infinix, both under transsion, ranked second and fourth with a supply of 4.5 million and 3 million units, respectively, accounting for 13.8% and 9.6% respectively.

by 2024, chinese mobile phones are still hot in russia. according to a report by overseas network citing the russian 3dnewsdailydigitaldigest website, in the first half of 2024, russia's smartphone sales were 14.3 million units, most of which were driven by chinese mobile phone brands. the top four in sales were redmi, tecno, realme and infinix.

why are chinese mobile phones still selling well in russia, with exports increasing significantly? guo tao, an angel investor and senior artificial intelligence expert, said in an interview with a securities times reporter that due to geopolitical reasons, western brands have withdrawn from the russian market or reduced their supply, leaving market space for chinese brands.

earlier in march 2022, the us technology giant apple announced the suspension of all product sales in russia. subsequently, samsung also announced that it would stop supplying consumer electronics products from chips to smartphones to russia. since then, chinese mobile phones have become the main sales force in russia. according to reporters, in 2016, chinese brand mobile phones only accounted for about 30% of the russian market share, in 2021 they accounted for about 50% of the market share, and by 2023 it had surged to about 80%.

in addition to external driving factors, "internal factors" are also crucial. wang peng, an associate researcher at the beijing academy of social sciences, said in an interview with a securities times reporter: "chinese mobile phone brands have conducted in-depth research on the russian market and launched products that meet local needs, such as large-screen, long-lasting, and high-pixel mobile phones. brands such as redmi and tecno under transsion have attracted russian consumers with their high cost-performance ratio, and have significant advantages in cost control and supply chain management."

liang zhenpeng, an analyst in the home appliance industry, said in an interview with the securities times that chinese mobile phones have a low price advantage and can match the economic level of russian consumers. the technological innovation and user experience of chinese mobile phones have also been recognized by russian consumers.

going to asia, africa and latin america, 2024 will be the "big year for chinese mobile phones to go overseas"

the hot sales of mobile phones in russia are just a microcosm of chinese mobile phones entering the global market. in 2024, chinese mobile phone sales achieved strong growth in many overseas markets.

according to canalys data, in the second quarter of 2024, the african smartphone market grew slightly, up 6% year-on-year to 17.8 million units. among them, transsion took 51% of the market share with 9.2 million mobile phone shipments, ranking first in africa. in this quarter, while samsung's mobile phone shipments fell 25% year-on-year, xiaomi, realme and oppo's mobile phone shipments in the african market increased by 45%, 137% and 39% respectively, and the "sinicization" trend of the african mobile phone market was obvious.

in the indian market, xiaomi regained the top spot. according to canalys data, in the second quarter of 2024, xiaomi regained the top spot in the indian mobile phone market with 6.7 million units shipped and 18% market share. this is its first return after losing the top spot for 6 quarters. samsung's shipments fell 8% year-on-year, while vivo, realme and oppo's shipments all increased.

in the southeast asian market, samsung ranked first with 4.4 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 5%. oppo, ranked second, shipped 4.2 million units, a year-on-year increase of 24%. xiaomi and vivo, ranked third and fourth, both saw a year-on-year increase of 37%, and transsion's shipments increased by 12% year-on-year.

in the latin american market, xiaomi shipped 6.2 million units in the second quarter of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 35%, setting a record high and ranking second. transsion and honor jumped into the top five, with shipments increasing by 52% and 47% respectively. in sharp contrast to chinese brands, samsung's mobile phone shipments only increased by 9% year-on-year, and motorola's mobile phone shipments fell by 1% year-on-year, while the overall mobile phone shipments in latin america reached 33.5 million units in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 20%.

overall, the sales growth rate of chinese mobile phones has outperformed that of their overseas counterparts. wang peng believes that emerging markets such as africa, south america, and southeast asia are becoming increasingly important in the global smartphone market, and chinese mobile phone brands are seizing growth opportunities. this is due to high cost-effectiveness, technological innovation, and successful localized operations and marketing strategies. liang zhenpeng said that the main competitive "moat" of chinese mobile phones in overseas markets is brand reputation, user stickiness, supply chain advantages, and continuous technological innovation.

looking at the global market, the mobile phone industry is currently experiencing a sales recovery. according to data from market analysis firm techinsights, global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2024 will be approximately 290 million units, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. chinese brand mobile phones have also achieved "dominance". in addition to samsung and apple, which rank in the top two, chinese brand mobile phones have "contracted" eight of the top ten shipments. the corresponding mobile phone brands include xiaomi, vivo, transsion, oppo (oneplus), honor, lenovo-motorola, and huawei.

however, guo tao believes that the current international market competition is fierce, and geopolitical risks may affect the access and sales of chinese mobile phone brands in overseas markets. chinese mobile phone brands still need to continuously enhance their brand influence and improve their localization level to meet the diverse requirements of cultural differences and consumer preferences.