Samsung Electronics Co., once China’s No. 1 smartphone vendor, sold fewer smartphones in China for the fourth quarter of last year than Apple Inc. and local brand Xiaomi Inc., continuing to lose ground in the battle for the world’s largest smartphone market, a market tracker said Wednesday.
“The incredible popularity of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China in Q4 2014 has led Apple to take first place in the Chinese smartphone market for the first time by units shipped,” Canalys said in a statement.
“The top four vendors in Q4 in China by units shipped were Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung and Huawei, respectively,” it said.
Canalys is scheduled to release details of smartphone shipments in the Chinese market next week, said Nicole Peng, research director at the Beijing office of Canalys.
“Apple has achieved record results in both China and the U.S. markets, which helps Apple to challenge Samsung as the top smartphone vendor on a worldwide basis,” Peng said.
“Xiaomi continued to have a good quarter in Q4, helped by its ramping up supply. Samsung is going through a transitional period in Q4,” Peng said.
During the second quarter of last year, Beijing-based Xiaomi overtook Samsung as China’s top smartphone vendor for the first time.
It was also the first time that Samsung’s quarterly smartphone sales in China finished in the No. 3 spot.
On Tuesday, Apple said it sold 74.5 million iPhones during the fourth quarter of last year, but did not reveal iPhone sales by country. (Yonhap)
