Data from CCID Consulting, China’s largest research and consulting company, revealed that Samsung’s market share in China decreased from 20 percent last January to just 13.7 percent this past October. While Samsung reportedly remains on top in the Chinese space, Lenovo, Apple, and Huawei are not that far from the South Korean giant.
The bad news don’t end there, as Samsung’s smartphone sales declined month-to-month. In October of last year, Samsung sold 1.6 million handsets, a number that decreased to 1.2 million in November. However, this is more representative of the overall decline in smartphone sales in China, as 307 million smartphones were sold in October. This figure represents a decline from the 356.2 million smartphones sold in China last January.
According to an unnamed industry analyst, Samsung’s decline is a symptom of the company’s unwillingness to properly adapt to the Chinese market. The issue stems, in part, from Samsung’s awkward pricing strategy. While companies like Xiaomi and Meizu are releasing flagship handsets at prices Chinese residents can afford, Samsung has the Galaxy S5, for example, on sale at twice the cost.
Xiaomi recently announced the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro, while Meizu announced the MX4 and MX4 Pro. In other words, Samsung’s competitors aren’t resting on their laurels, so Samsung would be wise to come up with a strategy for turning around its fortunes in 2015.
