A report from DigiTimes Research highlights that while smartphone shipments have increased in China by 14.3% on a yearly basis, shipments of high-end smartphones from Apple and Samsung have declined. Local Chinese OEMs like Huawei and Oppo have benefitted the most as their budget Android devices have been doing exceedingly well. 

The growth of mid-range smartphones in the country has been further fueled by heavy subsidies being offered by three of the largest operators in China.

Overall, a staggering 149 million smartphones were shipped in China in the second quarter of 2016, with Huawei ranking number one with 14% market share. This is followed by local OEMs Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi grabbing 12.7%, 11.2%, and 10.4% market share respectively. Samsung, which ruled the Chinese smartphone market up until a year ago, is nowhere in the top 5, with Apple’s market share also falling into single digits as it took the fifth position.

However, the report from DigiTimes notes that there has been an increase in inventory stockpile at retail channel operators because most of the smartphones were sold directly by OEMs to them. This explains why companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo have been focusing on opening and increasing their direct retail stores in the country.

With the US and European smartphone market having reached its peak, companies like Apple and Samsung have been trying their best to capture the Chinese and Indian smartphone market, but they have been unable to compete against local Chinese OEMs on price front.