Chinese smartphone manufacturers are rapidly emerging as leading competitors in the UK’s smartphone market. Due to their cooperation with British operators O2, Vodafone, EE/BT and Three, Xiaomi and Oppo are expected to be the third and fourth largest brands in the UK market in Q1 of 2021. They are forecast to overtake Huawei, which has suffered due to US sanctions on key components for production.
As British telecommunication operators seek to expand 5G nationally, they are giving priority to companies that offer 5G smartphones at a competitive price. Xiaomi and Oppo have a strong holding in China where 5G has been widely rolled out and made up a combined 29% of China’s smartphone market share as of Q4 2020. Indeed, 5G smartphone sales accounted for more than 60% of total sales at the end of last year.
“Until 2019, the UK smartphone market has been dominated by Apple, Samsung and Huawei. However, Xiaomi and Oppo have quickly seized the opportunities brought by Huawei’s political issues.”
Neil Mawston, Executive Director of Strategy Analytics
Xiaomi’s global market share reached 13.5% in Q3 of 2020 and it exported 46.60 million smartphones worldwide. The smartphone manufacture recently announced that it is expanding into the electric vehicle market.
Oppo also has global ambitions and has partnered with over 80 network operators around the world, including América Móvil in South America.
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