Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi speaks about iOS 7 on stage. (Photo : Getty Images)
Apple Inc. has bowed down to homegrown brand Oppo Electronics Corp. after the latter elbowed out the U.S.-based tech giant as the best-selling smartphone vendor in China.
Apple's iPhone is no longer the most popular handset in the world's largest market for mobile phones, with the Oppo R9 seeing 17 million annual shipments last year, per Counterpoint Technology Market Research, via China Daily. This midrange handset accounted for 4 percent of the overall market in mainland China, leaving Apple in the second spot with only 2 percent. This is the first time in four years that Apple lost the crown.
"Oppo's omnipresent distribution channels from big to small cities across China and its aggressive marketing strategy are giving its products an edge," Tarun Pathak, associate director at Counterpoint, told China Daily.
The growing competition has also pushed Apple's smartphone sales in Greater China down 12 percent to $16.2 billion for the last three months through December.
Oppo is not the only local China brand that is threatening Apple.
The company's sister brand, Vivo, is also proving to be a strong rival in the country, highlighted by its recent efforts to hire celebrities as brand ambassadors.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd is also a contender with its global market share hitting double digits for the first time in the fourth quarter, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Xiaomi, once tagged as the "Apple of the East," tells a different story as it falls down to the fourth spot. While Xiaomi remains a strong contender in China, its descent signals how competitive the country's mobile phones space is, said the WSJ.
"The online channel is reaching its glass ceiling," Canalys analyst Nicole Peng was quoted as saying by the WSJ.
Despite having a tough time in China, Apple has managed to buck the trend of falling global revenue. The company's iPhone sales jumped 5 percent in the last quarter, which was boosted by the September release of the iPhone 7. In return, overall revenue inched up 3 percent to $78.4 billion.
