What a difference two years makes. Back in 2013, Samsung was riding high in China’s smartphone market. According to data from China Confidential, a research service from the Financial Times, a third of prospective smartphone buyers (out of 1,500 surveyed by China Confidential in Q2 2013) planned to purchase a Samsung device, ahead of Apple and other domestic and multinational competitors.
Since then, however, the Korean handset maker’s popularity has suffered a dramatic decline, as it has found itself squeezed from above and below. Its popularity more than halved between Q2 2013 and Q2 2014, and has halved again since, with just 7.4 per cent of prospective buyers in China Confidential’s most recent survey planning to buy a Samsung phone.
Apple’s popularity, by contrast, has surged over the same period, buoyed first by the launch of lower-priced iPhone models and more recently by the release of the large-screen iPhone6 and 6 Plus models last October — the large screen-size of many Samsung models had been a major reason for their previous popularity in China. Ahead of the iPhone 6 launch, a record 48.5 per cent of phone buyers said they planned to buy an Apple phone in China Confidential’s Q3 2014 survey. While Apple buying intentions moderated slightly in the immediate aftermath of the launch, they have remained strong, with Chinese buyers continuing to be attracted by Apple’s strong brand and the good reputation of its handsets.