Hello, Quartz Index readers!
Chinese brands rule the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market. Between October and November of last year, four out of the top five smartphone brands in India were from China, with Vivo, Xiaomi, Lenovo, and Oppo accounting for over 40% of the market, up from 14% the previous year.
The number of smartphone users in India is expected to reach 990 million by 2020, up from about 800 million in 2015, and Chinese vendors have recognized the huge opportunity ahead, particularly with growth flat-lining back home.
Besides attractive prices and well-oiled production processes, a deliberate sales strategy plays a key role.
In India, online sales make up only a third of total smartphone sales, since over a billion Indians remain offline. As a result, some Chinese brands are replicating their small-town strategy, opening physical stores across the country. Guangdong-based Oppo, for example, recently set up 35,000 sales points and 180 service centers all over India, suggesting it is looking way beyond urban markets.
Meanwhile, Apple is still building showrooms in large cities to sell products that only a small percentage of the population can afford. —Ananya Bhattacharya
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