The more information you know about your potential customers, the easier you will find marketing in China. Every piece of information gives you a better chance of creating a meaningful connection with your target market. This connection can then grow into a profitable relationship. Knowing what type of smartphone your customer uses could be vital if you intend to use m-commerce. Here are the top five smartphone brands in China.

Marketing in China: Smartphone overview

Most of the popular smartphone makers in China are domestic brands such as Xiaomi. This is because Chinese smartphone producers have focussed on producing low-cost devices that do one thing particularly well. Rather than trying to compete with products such as the iPhone 5s or Nokia Lumia, which boast a wide range of different features, smartphone brands in China are offering cheaper models that are brilliant at taking pictures, or great for watching video, and little else (source: China Daily). This could explain why so many of the brands featured below are domestic companies. (All market share statistics and rankings are from China.org)

5. Apple

Apple probably aren’t used to seeing themselves at the bottom of lists, but their position as the fifth most popular smartphone brand is actually an improvement. Until the second quarter of 2013, Apple were the 7^th most popular brand. It is only recently they have overtaken Xiaomi, with their market share growing to 6%.

4. Huawei

China provides a third of Huawei’s total revenue, with profits growing from 15.6billion yuan in 2012 to 21billion yuan in 2013. According to Huawei, in 2012 they became the 3^rd biggest smartphone manufacturer globally, in terms of number of smartphones shipped (source: BBC News). As of the end of last year, they held 9% of the market.

3. Yulong

Heightened privacy features make Yulong Coolpad phones one of the most popular choices with businesspeople and government officials. Sticking to the strategy of developing low cost, single feature phones, Yulong’s heavy focus on R&D has made it a serious contender in the Chinese smartphone market. Stock price doubled between 2012 and 2013, arriving at a figure ten times higher than when the company was originally listed (source: Forbes). Yulong has a market share of 11%.

2. Lenovo

Having already beat HP in the global market for desktop PCs, Lenovo have turned their ambitions to the smartphone market. Considering they are the second most popular smartphone brand, with a 13% share, they are clearly doing well. Last year, Lenovo’s yearly revenue was $38.7billion (source: The Economist).

1. Samsung

With 21% of the market share, it is Korean manufacturer Samsung that still tops the tables. Samsung are keen to continue to focus on China and increase their market share as the market in developed countries becomes more crowded. Despite stiff competition from domestic brands, China is still ripe with potential for the company to continue to thrive (source: Engadget). (Image source: ‘Smartphone And Function Icons’ | www.freedigitalphotos.net)