Table of Contents
Executive Summary
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- The market
- Market overview
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- Figure 1: Mobile phone volume sales, China, 2010-20
- Market factors
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- Figure 2: Mobile phone volume sales, by non-smartphones and smartphones, 2008-15
- Companies and brands
- Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu, OPPO and Vivo enjoy growth in volume share
- Samsung, Lenovo and Coolpad’s volume share dropped
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- Figure 3: Leading mobile phone brands in China, by volume share, 2014 and 2015
- Apple continues to top value share, followed by OPPO and Huawei
- Innovation highlights
- The consumer
- Domestic brands have taken the share of international brands
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- Figure 4: Brand of current smartphone, October 2014 and 2015
- User profile of leading brands
- Apple achieves highest user satisfaction
- Processing speed is main concern for Android phones
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- Figure 5: Satisfaction with different aspects of current smartphones, by brand, October 2015
- Apart from OPPO, Android phone brands lack differentiation
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- Figure 6: Correspondence analysis – Smartphone brand association, October 2015
- Average purchasing cycle of smartphones is 1 to 1.5 years
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- Figure 7: Total usage time of current smartphone, October 2015
- Apple remains the most desired brand while domestic brands catch up
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- Figure 8: Purchase intention of smartphone brands in the next six months, October 2014 and 2015
- Apple enjoys the highest brand loyalty
- What we think
Issues and Insights
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- Is the smartphone market saturated in China?
- The facts
- The implications
- Satisfying unmet needs
- The facts
- The implications
- Building a premium brand
- The facts
- The implications
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- Figure 9: Huawei flagship store in Shanghai, December 2015
- Differentiating brand identities
- The facts
- The implications
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- Growth of China’s mobile phone market slows down
- Mobile phone market is expected to revive in the next five years
- Saturating penetration, unclear future of operator subsidies and low brand loyalty among Android phone users are market challenges
- Smartphones continue to dominate, but growth slows down
Market Size and Forecast
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- Growth of China’s mobile phone market slows down
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- Figure 10: Mobile phone sales in China, by volume, 2008-15
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- Figure 11: Mobile phone sales in China, by value, 2011-15
- Mobile phone market is expected to revive in the next five years
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- Figure 12: Mobile phone volume sales, China, 2010-20
Market Factors
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- Market drivers
- Continuous development of 4G network
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- Figure 13: 2G, 3G and 4G-capable mobile phones sales, by volume share, 2009-15
- Shortening purchasing cycle of smartphones
- Booming online retailing channels to boost sale volume
- Smartphone models within various price ranges available
- Market challenges
- Penetration of smartphones saturating
- Unclear future of operator subsidies
- Fierce price competition due to low brand loyalty among Android smartphone users
Market Segmentation
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- Smartphones continue to dominate while non-smartphones decline
- Smartphone growth slowing down
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- Figure 14: Mobile phone volume, by non-smartphones and smartphones, 2008-15
Key Players – What You Need to Know
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- Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu, OPPO and Vivo enjoy growth in volume share
- Samsung, Lenovo and Coolpad witnessed drop in volume share
- Apple continues to top value share, followed by OPPO and Huawei
- Domestic brands offering full price models
- OPPO and Vivo sponsoring popular TV shows and leveraging the power of celebrities
- Focus on both online and offline channels
- Developing overseas emerging markets
- Innovation in functions, feature phones, cross-industry co-operation, smartphone loan and leasing and children’s phones
Market Share
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- Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu, OPPO and Vivo enjoy growth in volume share
- Samsung, Lenovo and Coolpad see drop in volume share
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- Figure 15: Leading mobile phone brands in China, by market volume share, 2014-15
- Apple continues to top value share, followed by OPPO and Huawei
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- Figure 16: Leading mobile phone brands in China, by market value share, 2014-15
Competitive Strategies
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- Domestic brands offering full price models
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- Figure 17: Examples of smartphone models across different price ranges, by key domestic brands, 2015
- OPPO and Vivo sponsoring popular TV shows and leveraging the power of celebrities
- Focus on both online and offline channels
- Developing overseas emerging markets
Who’s Innovating?
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- Innovations in mobile phone functions
- Germ-free phone
- Phone of my own
- A moral brand
- Feature phones strike back
- Cross-industry co-operation
- A local phone
- Pepsi phone
- Premium products to be available to more consumers
- Loans for phones
- Leased phone
- Children’s phones
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- Domestic brands cannibalised the share of international brands
- Lenovo, Samsung and Huawei attract more older consumers, while OPPO, Xiaomi and Meizu attract more young users
- OPPO attracts consumers in lower tier cities and with lower incomes
- Apple achieves highest user satisfaction, while Lenovo is yet to improve
- Apple should better promote advantages, while processing speed is the area to be prioritised for Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi
- Android brand associations lack differentiation, except for OPPO being closely related to “feminine”
- Average purchasing cycle of smartphones is 1 to 1.5 years
- Apple remains the most desired brand while domestic brands catch up
- Apple enjoys the highest brand loyalty
Smartphone Brand Penetration
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- Domestic brands have taken the share from international brands
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- Figure 18: International versus domestic brands of current smartphone, October 2014 and 2015
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- Figure 19: International versus domestic brands of current smartphone, by income and city tier, October 2015
- Penetration of Huawei and Xiaomi rose while Samsung dropped
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- Figure 20: Brand of current smartphone, October 2014 and 2015
- User profile analysis of leading smartphone brands
- Lenovo, Samsung and Huawei appeal more to older consumers
- OPPO’s users are skewed to young females, while Xiaomi and Meizu attract young males
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- Figure 21: User profile of leading smartphone brands, by age and gender, October 2015
- Apple, Samsung and Huawei attract more sophisticated consumers
- OPPO’s users are skewed to those living in lower tier cities and with lower incomes
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- Figure 22: User profile of leading smartphone brands, by city tier and income, October 2015
Satisfaction with Current Smartphone
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- Apple achieves highest user satisfaction
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- Figure 23: Overall satisfaction with current smartphone, by brand, October 2015
- Consumers’ key concerns are standby time and storage space
- Apple stands out in most aspects
- Among Android phones, Meizu outperforms in storage space
- Lenovo is yet to improve satisfaction
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- Figure 24: Satisfaction with different aspects of current smartphones, by brand, October 2015
Key Satisfaction Drivers for Leading Brands
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- Apple to maintain and better promote competitive advantage
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- Figure 25: Key drivers of overall satisfaction for Apple smartphone, October 2015
- Processing speed is the area to be prioritised for Android phones
- Samsung should prioritise performance of speed related aspects
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- Figure 26: Key drivers of overall satisfaction for Samsung smartphone, October 2015
- Storage space is the area to improve for Huawei
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- Figure 27: Key drivers of overall satisfaction for Huawei smartphone, October 2015
- Improving internet speed and security features are priorities for Xiaomi
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- Figure 28: Key drivers of overall satisfaction with Xiaomi smartphone, October 2015
Smartphone Brand Association
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- Apple is associated with being desirable, stylish and a standard-setter
- Samsung is associated with being innovative, a standard-setter and trustworthy
- Xiaomi is associated with being vibrant and user-friendly
- Huawei is associated with being sophisticated
- Lenovo is associated with being good value for money and low profile
- OPPO is associated with being feminine
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- Figure 29: Correspondence analysis – smartphone brand association, October 2015
Usage Time and Purchasing Cycle of Smartphones
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- Average usage time of current smartphones is about 1 year
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- Figure 30: Total usage time of current smartphone, October 2015
- Males and young consumers show strong purchase intention in the next six months
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- Figure 31: Purchase intention in the next six months, by demographics, October 2015
- Average purchasing cycle of smartphones is 1 to 1.5 years
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- Figure 32: Purchase intention, by usage time of current smartphones, October 2015
- Apple remains the most desired brand while domestic brands catch up
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- Figure 33: Purchase intention of smartphone brands in the next 6 months, October 2014 and 2015
- Apple enjoys the highest brand loyalty
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- Figure 34: Loyal users of leading brands, October 2015
Meet the Mintropolitans
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- Mintropolitans prefer international brands
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- Figure 35: International versus domestic brands of current smartphone, by consumer classification, October 2015
- Figure 36: Purchase intention of smartphone brands in the next six months, by consumer classification, October 2015
- Mintropolitans prefer Huawei among domestic brands
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- Figure 37: Key domestic brands of current smartphone and future purchase, by consumer classification, October 2015
- Mintropolitans have shorter smartphone purchasing cycle
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- Figure 38: Smartphone purchase intention in the next six months and total usage time of current smartphone, by consumer classification, October 2015
Appendix – Market Size and Forecast
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- Figure 39: Total China mobile phone market, by market volume, 2010-20
- Figure 40: Total China mobile phone market, by value sales, 2011-15
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Appendix – Market Segmentation
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- Figure 41: China mobile phone market volume, by market segment, 2010-15
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Appendix – Methodology and Abbreviations
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- Methodology
- Fan chart forecast
- Consumer research
- Key driver analysis
- Methodology
- Key satisfaction drivers for leading brands
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- Figure 42: Key drivers of overall satisfaction with Apple smartphone, Oct 2015
- Figure 43: Key drivers of overall satisfaction with Samsung smartphone, Oct 2015
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- Figure 44: Key drivers of overall satisfaction with Huawei smartphone, Oct 2015
- Figure 45: Key drivers of overall satisfaction with Xiaomi smartphone, Oct 2015
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- Figure 46: Overall satisfaction with current smartphone- Key driver output, Oct 2015
- Interpretation of results
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- Figure 47: overall satisfaction with current smartphone- Key driver output, Oct 2015
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- Figure 48: Satisfaction with different aspects of smartphone, Oct 2015
- Correspondence analysis
- Methodology
- Smartphone brand association
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- Figure 49: Correspondence Analysis – Smartphone brand association, October 2015
- Figure 50: Smartphone brand association, October 2015
- Mintropolitans
- Why Mintropolitans?
- Who are they?
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- Figure 51: Demographic profile of Mintropolitans vs Non-Mintropolitans, by gender, age and personal income
- Figure 52: Demographic profile of Mintropolitans vs Non-Mintropolitans, by marital status, city tier and education level
- Abbreviations
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