Apple is now China’s top smartphone vendor :IDC

Apple has overtaken China’s Xiaomi to become the largest vendor of smartphones in the Chinese market for the first time, new data showed on Monday.Apple grabbed 14.7 percent of the market share in the first quarter of 2015, surpassing Xiaomi, which had a 13.7-percent share, according to market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC).

China smartphone market contracted by 4% year-on-year (YoY) with 98.8 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2015.

“Smartphones are becoming increasingly saturated in China,” said Kitty Fok, Managing Director at IDC China. “China is oftentimes thought of as an emerging market but the reality is that the vast majority of phones sold in China today are smartphones, similar to other mature markets like the US, UK, Australia, and Japan. Just like these markets, convincing existing users as well as feature phone users to upgrade to new smartphones will now be the key to further growth in the China market.”

Apple was the top smartphone vendor in China in the first quarter of 2015, with consumers still having a strong appetite for the larger screens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Xiaomi slipped to the second position as it faced strong competition from other vendors in the low to mid-range segment of the market, while Huawei maintained third position as it saw a good uptake in the mid-range segment. Samsung and Lenovo both led the market at least once last year, but rankings have since changed quickly, highlighting the volatility of consumers’ brand preference in China.

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