OPPO and Vivo reach top 5 smartphone makers in Q1: IDC

Smartphone makers in Q1 2016OPPO and Vivo are the two new smartphone makers in the chart prepared by IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker for the first quarter of 2016.

Samsung, Apple and Huawei are the top three smartphone vendors in Q1 2016.

Samsung ‘s smartphone shipments declined 0.6 percent. Galaxy S7 and S7 edge and J-series were the focus areas for Samsung.

Apple’s smartphone volumes slipped to 51.2 million units, down 16.3 percent. At $399, the iPhone SE faces equally powerful lower-priced devices from competitors, particularly within India and China. iPhone SE will begin having an impact on iPhone shipments in the second quarter of 2016.

Smartphone shipment for Huawei climbed to 27.5 million (+58.4 percent). Premium phones such as the P9, Mate Series, and Nexus 6, along with entry level devices from its Honor brand, should help Huawei gain further traction in the global smartphone market.

OPPO’s 18.5 million shipments represented a growth of 153.2 percent, the strongest among the top 5 smartphone makers in the world. OPPO’s expansion in China itself has been via offline channels and a strong push to lower-tier cities.

For vivo, less than 10 percent of its shipments were outside of China. Similar to OPPO, vivo’s retail presence and marketing in lower-tier markets is particularly strong and a key factor to its growth. Vivo shipped 14.3 million units, clocking 123.8 percent growth.

Indian brands such as Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, etc. are not part of the top five smartphone maker list prepared by IDC. Big brands such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, Sony, LG, Microsoft, HTC, ZTE, etc. are also out of the top phone maker’s list.

IDC said device vendors shipped 334.9 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of 2016 (1Q16), up slightly from the 334.3 million units in Q1 2015.

The minimal growth is primarily attributed to strong smartphone saturation in developed markets, as well as a year-over-year decline from both Apple and Samsung, the two market leaders.

“Lenovo benefited with ASPs below US$150 in 2013, and Xiaomi picked up the mantle with ASPs below $200 in 2014 and 2015. Now Huawei, OPPO, and vivo, which play mainly in the sub-$250 range, are positioned for a strong 2016,” said Melissa Chau, senior research manager with IDC’sWorldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Baburajan K