MAJOR CHALLENGES FOR THE EAST
ASIAN MANUFACTURERSIn last week’s issue, we looked at the wave of
Chinese-branded smartphones entering global
territories outside East Asia and how these
devices compare to Apple’s offerings in their
features and software. While there’s now a long
list of Chinese smartphone purveyors, two
brands that particularly stand out are Huawei
and Xiaomi, which are now both vulnerable
to the escalating trade war waged by the
Trump administration against imports from
the People’s Republic.
Fortunately for Huawei and Xiaomi, they have
grown to such an extent – both as companies
and in terms of smartphone market share – that
they can afford to weather the storm of this
trade conflict. However, this isn’t to say that their
hard-earned edge in the global market isn’t
under threat – and it leaves open the question
of whether a Chinese smartphone would be
such a good investment for the typical U.S. tech
consumer after all.
In this week’s article, we’ll be looking closer at a
wide range of subjects like these.
HOW HUAWEI AND XIAOMI ARE FARING
IN THE GLOBAL MARKETAccording to a recent report by research firm
Gartner, global sales of Huawei phones saw
a year-on-year increase of 16.5% during the
second quarter, cementing the company’s
position as the runner-up in this particular
market, where it now chases only Samsung.
Huawei’s share of the market was 15.8%
during the quarter, while Samsung’s sat at