RaduTyrsina
News Team
Apple’s upcoming release of the cheaper iPhone 5C couldn’t have come any sooner. At least according to the news brought this week by IDC researcher Dickie Chang. In his email, he explains that Apple’s grip of the Chinese market has slipped dramatically in the second quarter of 2013, in favor of local competitors. The Cupertino tech giant experienced a downfall of 21% from the 49% it held a year earlier.
Apparently, the Chinese consumer is mostly interested in the ​​price at the moment. Therefore, a migration to Android products has become evident. Samsung for example, is the second tablet market share holder in the country with 11%. Interestingly enough, other more or less known tablet producers that only hold 1% of marketshare ended up generating more than half of Chinese tablet shipments. Managing director for China Market Research Group located in Shanghai stated:
“Apple has lost its luster in China in the past six months and is no longer the must-have product in any category. Consumers are more price-sensitive. Before, people would skip lunch to buy an iPad.â€
The same trend has been observed in smartphone shipments with Apple losing ground and ending up with only 5% percent of the whole market in Q2.
So, who is cannibalizing Apple’s shares, you might be wondering? The culprits are companies like Lenovo, Acer and Asustek plus local tablet makers like Onda and Aigo. Samsung came out on top in Q2 and managed to increase its shipments four times reaching 571,000, while Lenovo doubled its numbers to 413,000.
Cheaper products from Apple are badly needed in China, and this is exactly the void which the iPhone 5C and next gen iPad mini will fill.
Source: Bloomberg
