When the iphone13 series was launched in September last year, a shopping mall in China was crowded with consumers who came to buy it.
Chinese people's love for and apple is getting better and better. Not only iPhones, but Apple Watches are also being purchased with astonishing momentum. With its advantages in the Chinese market, Apple's share of the global market is increasing day by day. On the contrary, Samsung Electronics smartphones and smart watches have no presence in the Chinese market. In the smart watch market, the reason for the widening gap between Apple and Samsung Electronics is "China's preference." This is Samsung Electronics' Achilles' heel. According to market research firm Canalys on the 27th, Apple ranked fourth in China's wrist-worn machine (smart watch) market in the first quarter with an 8% share. Among the top five companies, only Apple’s shipments increased. While China's smartwatch market stagnated in the first quarter, sales increased 20% from the same period last year. Samsung Electronics' global shipments have increased due to the popularity of the "galaxy watch 4" launched in August last year, which cannot be found in the Chinese market.
The top three are Huawei (33%), Xiaomi (17%) and XTC (8%). They are all Chinese companies, but their shipments have decreased significantly. Compared with the same period last year, Huawei, Xiaomi and XTC decreased by 12% and 26% respectively. Ana, who ranked fifth, saw a reduction of 64%. If the scope is narrowed to the high-priced smartwatch market, Apple's share is expected to be much higher than 8%.
The joys and sorrows of Apple and Samsung Electronics are widening the gap in global market share. Another market research company, Counter Point Research, said that in the first quarter of the global smart watch market, Apple occupied the first place with a 36% share. Compared with the same period last year, shipments increased by 14% and share increased by 5.9 percentage points. Samsung Electronics ranked second with 10%. Although shipments increased by 46%, the share remained the same. The share gap between Apple and Samsung Electronics widened to 26 percentage points from 20 percentage points in the first quarter of last year.
Some people worry that Samsung Electronics’ “nightmare” with smartphones may extend to the rapidly growing wearable phone market. Until 2013 to 2014, Samsung Electronics' share in China's smartphone market was still more than 20%. However, due to the spread of anti-Korean sentiment and the rapid growth of Chinese brands, it has dropped to about 1% starting in 2019.
