TrendForce: Xiaomi Squeezes past HTC to Become Fifth Most Used Smartphone Brand in China

According to the latest market survey conducted by AVANTI, a research division of TrendForce, both Samsung and Apple remain the most used smartphone brands among Chinese consumers. Xiaomi has notably managed to rise past HTC this time around, and is currently at fifth place. TrendForce believes Xiaomi’s smartphone sales will greatly affect China's domestic smartphone industry, and will exert the most impact on smartphone manufacturers such as Lenovo and ZTE, which produce similarly priced products.

Figure 1: Most used smartphone brand among Chinese consumers

Source: TrendForce

The Xiaomi brand is probably best known for its “low cost, high performance” reputation. According to AVANTI’s research, more than 60% of the surveyed consumers have showed interest in buying the “Red Rice” smartphone due to its high price performance ratio as well as affordability. Of these respondents, the majority of those that took interest in the device’s low price point tend to be 39 years old or under. The male respondents who are most concerned about internet connectivity tend to show greater interest in keeping track of Xiaomi's smartphone devices than their female counterparts.

Aside from appealing to the existing Xiaomi users, the “Red Rice” smartphones have managed to also attract users of various other smartphone brands. Compared to Apple, which enjoys high brand loyalty, many Android smartphone companies are revealed have been hit hard by Xiaomi's rising popularity. The desire to switch to the “Red Rice” smartphone appears to be the greatest among Lenovo's and ZTE's users, and moderately strong among users of Samsung, Nokia, and Huawei.

According to the data collected from AVANTI’s 3,272 Chinese respondents, the Xiaomi smartphone’s usage rate, while above HTC’s, is still behind that of Samsung, Apple, Nokia, and Huawei. The Chinese company currently ranks fifth in the “most used smartphone brand” category.

Figure 2: Desire to purchase Xiaomi smartphones from users of different brands

Source: TrendForce