iPhone loses fans in China
- By Wu Jin
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 7, 2017
The frenzy for the iPhone series and other smart digital gadgets produced by Apple Inc. has started to cool down, following the rise of indigenous smart phone manufacturers in China.
According to Counterpoint, a consultancy firm for digital marketing, shipments of smart phones from Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei, OPPO and vivo has reached 465 million last year. This mounts to one third of global transactions and sustains a sound development of a year-on-year growth rate of 6 percent.
At the same time, iPhone has for the first time since 2012, tumbled from the top position as the most favorite smart phone around the world in terms of sales. It was replaced by OPPO, a Chinese cell phone producer.
The shipments of OPPO, Huawei and vivo last year grew respectively by 122.2 percent, 21.8 percent and 96.9 percent, compared to a 21 percent decline in iPhone shipments.
Industrial observer Liu Buchen said manufacturers like Samsung and Huawei have outperformed Apple Inc. in view of their cutting-edge technologies in the smart phones industry. Suffice to say that Apple's brand building efforts may not be so effective because of few technological innovations.
Despite Apple's CEO Tim Cook's endeavor to build a comprehensive corporate by combining hardware production with content and services, the company's forays into smart gargets such as Apple Watch and Apple TV have failed to arouse mass interest.
According to International Data Corporation (IDC), an advisory firm for information technology, the Apple Watch remains the most desirable smart watch, constituting 40 percent of the market in the third quarter last year. However, total sales of 1.1 million only enabled the company to secure fourth position in watch sales. Moreover, Apple Watch's shipments have plummeted by 71 percent in this period.
Kang Zhao, editor in chief of the Website of World Operators, said that the development of hardware technologies for Apple Inc. has come to a dead end. The company, which can take advantage of its service regarding the Internet of Things, needs structural reform.
With the declining shipments of smart phones, tech magnates are starting to focus on the technologies of virtual reality, driverless automobiles and artificial intelligence, which are the industries that Apple Inc. has previously focused less on.
Apple Inc. issued its fiscal report for the fourth quarter of last year showing revenue rising by 3 percent on the previous year to US$78.35 billion and net profit dropping 3 percent to US$17.89 billion.
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