Who is the real No. 1 in China's smartphone market?

The Chinese smartphone landscape that has lasted for several years is facing a new round of shocks. Xiaomi and Lenovo have both cited third-party data in recent days, claiming that they are the market leader. Samsung, which had previously been questioned, has become the "target" in the new round of data war of words.

It is worth noting that Samsung has long occupied the top position in the Chinese market. In addition to the "China Cool Alliance" pattern, Xiaomi has also ranked among the top. Does the rise of domestic mobile phones mean that the market structure has changed?

Institutional data conflict

Lenovo proved itself to be the market leader, citing IDC data.

According to IDC data, Lenovo shipped 13.02 million smartphones in the Chinese market in the second quarter, with a market share of 12.5%, followed by Xiaomi, with 12.94 million units shipped and a market share of 12.4%. The two companies are close. Samsung had the biggest change, shipping 10.26 million units in the second quarter, with a market share of only 9.8%. In the first quarter, Samsung's market share was 19.9%, and it suddenly fell from the first place to the fifth place in the market.

Samsung did not respond to this ranking. Since July 2011, Samsung has stopped disclosing its smartphone and tablet shipments due to business risks, while smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Lenovo still disclose them in their financial reports.

In IDC data, the data of manufacturers including Apple, Huawei and Coolpad basically remain consistent with the financial reports.

Interestingly, before Lenovo announced that it was the market leader on August 14, Xiaomi also cited Canalys data to show that it was the market leader. The agency's data showed that Xiaomi shipped 14.99 million units in the second quarter, with a market share of 14%, Samsung shipped 13.23 million units, with a market share of 12%, and Lenovo shipped 13.02 million units.

At the same time, data from iResearch International showed that Samsung's share in the second quarter was 15.4%, still ranking first in the market. Xiaomi's share jumped to 13.5%, second only to Samsung, and Lenovo's share was 10.8%.

Strategy Analytics' report also believes that Samsung still leads the domestic smartphone market in the second quarter, and Xiaomi jumps to second place. However, Strategy Analytics believes that Coolpad's shipments surpassed Lenovo and ranked third.

"According to IDC data, Samsung is the most controversial company." iSuppli China Research Director Wang Yang believes that Samsung is still the market leader in the Chinese market.

iSuppli data also shows that in the second quarter of the domestic market, Samsung shipped 16.5 million units, ranking first in the market, followed by Xiaomi with 15.1 million units, and Lenovo with 13 million units, ranking third.

Focus on Samsung and Xiaomi

It is worth noting that although the rankings vary greatly, Lenovo, Huawei, Apple , Coolpad and other companies are basically consistent in terms of basic shipments, which is also basically consistent with the financial report data. The most controversial companies are Xiaomi and Samsung. Samsung did not provide public data, and its shipments vary greatly among various institutions; for Xiaomi, there is a huge difference between IDC and other institutions.

According to IDC data, Xiaomi's shipments in the second quarter were 12.94 million units, while data from other institutions mainly used the figure of 15 million units, which is basically consistent with Xiaomi's own external publicity.

According to Xiaomi's publicly disclosed data, it sold 26.11 million mobile phones in the first half of the year. Prior to this, Lei Jun publicly revealed at the IT Leaders Summit that Xiaomi shipped 11 million mobile phones in the first quarter. According to this calculation, Xiaomi's shipments in the second quarter were basically around 15 million units.

Wang Jiping, assistant research director of IDC China, told reporters that IDC has a dedicated mobile phone research team in China, which will conduct a comprehensive investigation of the manufacturer's shipment channels, including stores, chains and operator channels, and will also evaluate online sales. "If the error between our survey data and the manufacturer's data is within 5%, we will readjust it. However, if the error exceeds 5%, IDC will insist on its own investigation, which also leads to other institutions basically using Xiaomi's data, and IDC's data is quite different from Xiaomi's official data."

According to IDC data, Samsung's decline was the most rapid in the second quarter, falling from 19% in the previous quarter to 9.8% at present.

Wang Jiping believes that Samsung's share has declined mainly due to changes in the market and user structure. Smartphones are already quite common in first-, second- and third-tier markets, and new growth lies in the broader fourth-, fifth- and sixth-tier cities. In the lower-tier markets, Samsung's influence may not be stronger than that of domestic brands, and its prices are relatively high.

Secondly, the lack of innovation in mobile phone products and market homogeneity also affect Samsung.

However, Samsung's market share fell sharply, which was also related to Samsung's market adjustment to a certain extent. Wang Jiping believes that mobile phone manufacturers generally push goods to channels, resulting in inventory. Samsung may have reduced the pressure on inventory in the second quarter to relieve inventory pressure.

Regarding the above ranking, some industry insiders believe that this is only a seasonal performance and is not enough to represent industry changes, especially Xiaomi. In recent quarters, its leap has been very obvious, breaking the traditional "China Cool Alliance" pattern of domestic manufacturers. Whether it can maintain stable performance in the future remains to be seen.

Spring for domestic manufacturers?

The data conflict also reflects to a certain extent that the current competition in the domestic smartphone market is in a stalemate.

With the diversification of smartphone channels, especially the rise of e-commerce models, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have also begun to gradually exert their efforts and eroded part of Samsung's market. Series such as the Xiaomi series and Huawei Honor series are all working hard to expand new sales models through Internet marketing and e-commerce models.

At the same time, homogeneous competition may also weaken the competitiveness of foreign brands.

"Everyone is using the Android system now, and homogeneity is quite serious. After so many years of accumulation, domestic manufacturers have gradually narrowed the gap in appearance, materials, workmanship and brand. In comparison, Samsung's mobile phones are much more expensive, and the cost performance is not as high as that of domestic mobile phones." Wang Jun, an analyst at iResearch International, believes that Samsung will be affected by domestic mobile phone manufacturers in the mid-to-high-end smartphone price range of 2,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan, and this is also where domestic mobile phones are currently trying to make efforts.

According to data from market research firm Sino, in the second quarter of 2014, domestic smartphones accounted for 74.8% of the domestic smartphone market, up 1.6% from the previous quarter. Except for Samsung and Apple, the top 10 in the market are basically dominated by domestic smartphone brands.

"In the short term, domestic mobile phone brands and Samsung will still be in a stalemate in market rankings." Wang Jun believes that despite the arrival of 4G, factors such as the network are not the main factors that determine the status of mobile phone manufacturers. On the one hand, domestic mobile phone brands are gradually migrating to the mid-to-high-end market, and are constantly narrowing the gap in brand, technology, and patent accumulation; at the same time, with the integration of terminals and the Internet, whether or not to win the market in the future will no longer be determined by traditional manufacturing and supply, but by the Internet ecosystem and business model innovation.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.