VIVO is a brand that is young and hip, their approach to smartphones is no different to closest competitor OPPO. But it seems VIVO is enjoying a better momentum as compared to Huawei with 3% last Q4 2015 to 5.9% this Q3 2016 according to IDC Q3 2016 report.
That’s a 2.9% growth in just one year, compared to 1.1% of Huawei and 3.5% of OPPO. Vivo’s aggressive market style in channel, promoters and online presence is making a mark in the Philippines. Their V5 series (Vivo V5 Lite, Vivo V5 and Vivo V5 Plus) smartphones are expected to place the brand into the Top 5 local positioning if they continue their momentum.
For the final quarter of 2016, smartphone shipments showed a 6.9% year-on- year growth, with 428.5 million units shipped worldwide, as compared to 400.7 million units sold in the fourth quarter of 2015.
As for Vivo, the brand shipped a total of 24.7 million smartphones in the holiday quarter, a notable increase from the 12.1 million units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2015. And, for the full year, Vivo showed a significant 103% increase in units sold, from 38 million shipments in 2015 to a total of 77.3 million smartphones sold in 2016.
Aside from this, the market is expecting a slow down in performance increase but more of refinement in a user interface and lifestyle-centric features. This 2017, people look more into camera detail, water resistance, fast charging and even virtual reality capabilities.
Factors of a strong processor are only a foundation of a good smartphone, but it’s crap now without a good camera, user interface and even a selfie-centric camera. Take example Xiaomi phones which focused more on performance, which lead to Chinese brands like OPPO and Vivo to take over not only in their home country but also in other parts of Asia as well.
So this 2017 will be an interesting for other brands like Samsung and Apple who are losing market share fast due to their late reaction to lifestyle-centric emerging brands like Huawei, Vivo, and OPPO. Also another brand like ASUS, Lenovo, and LG, seems it will be an interesting view in how will they regain market position.
As white brands lessen this 2017, it seems the spotlight is now in the international arena. Hopefully, it’s enough to bring proper competition in the Philippines for cheaper gadgets and even services.
