Chinese smartphone makers gain market share from Samsung’s exploding batteries
S&P Capital suggests Chinese makers may be able to capture around half of the Samsung Note 7 domestic market
A number of Chinese smartphone makers gained Chinese and overseas market share in the third quarter, taking advantage of the gap left by embattled South Korean giant Samsung – but there was no single manufacturer that benefited the most, according to analysts.
Samsung launched its Galaxy Note 7 on August 19, but suspended sales and began recalling the model in September after a string of battery explosions.
Following the recall, Samsung shares plunged almost 7 per cent and another 8.04 per cent in October after Samsung permanently halted production and sales of the smartphone.
S&P Capital IQ analyst Tzyy Loon Ng believes in total, however, Chinese makers may be able to capture around half of the Samsung Note 7 domestic market – a significant chunk, but it would be spread around various companies, with Huawei, Oppo and Vivo likely to be the biggest gainers.
However, there was no single company that most-clearly benefited in the quarter globally, with Huawei, Oppo and Vivo and Apple sharing the gains in different markets, Morgan Stanley researchers found.
Oppo overtook Samsung as number one in Asia Pacific for the first time in the third quarter, “leveraging their strength in China” to take a 13.2 per cent share regionally, lead analyst Jasmine Lu said.
