14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung has declined to no less than 0.8% market share in China in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a report, as the company can’t keep up with local brands and Apple.
Citing figures offered by Strategy Analytics, The Korea Herald reveals that Samsung was only the 12th smartphone maker during the said quarter, while Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi topped the charts. Apple was fifth, and according to the cited source, was the only foreign company that managed to get this high rank.
Samsung’s performance in China is particularly surprising because the company was the number one smartphone manufacturer in the local market between 2011 and 2013, but due to the rapid growth of local brands, it gradually lost share in the last few years.
All hopes on the Galaxy S9
The firm, however, is hopeful that the release of the Galaxy S9 could help regain share in China, despite the rather slow performance of this new model in the rest of the markets.
Sales of the Galaxy S9 are believed to be well below expectations due to the rather insignificant upgrades that the device brings as compared to its predecessor.
The South Korean firm is reportedly aware of the poor sales of the S9 and now plans to bring the Note 9 to the market earlier than originally projected in order to have a more substantial upgraded device available for buyers.
The Note 9, which was previously expected to see daylight in August, could now be unveiled in late June or July, according to people familiar with the matter, as Samsung isn’t pleased with how sales of the S9 flagship go right now.
As for the Chinese market, Samsung has tried different plans there, including a new leadership team that has until now failed to produce any substantial change in terms of sales performance.