Xiaomi Conquered Samsung in India and are Preparing to take the Battle to Apple in Japan
In late October Patently Apple posted a report titled "Samsung and LG Seek to Break Apple’s Grip on Japan with next-gen Foldable & Dual-screen Smartphones." Now Xiaomi is aiming to challenge Apple's iPhone sales in Japan with top end smartphones at half price in 2020-2021.
It's reported today that "Wang Xiang, head of Xiaomi's international operations, disclosed the company's plan earlier today that they're set to enter Japan next and directly challenge Apple's iPhones with high performance smartphones at much lower prices. The company's current phones are priced at less than half of competing Apple models.
Xiaomi will offer multiple models, along with linked wearable devices," like their Apple Watch copy cat device revealed last week.
Wang could not say for certain when Xiaomi will launch in Japan, citing the need for its devices to undergo performance testing. "We should be able to in 2020. The sooner the better," he said. Wang added that Xiaomi "will set up a Japanese subsidiary soon to prepare for the launch." For more on this story, read the full Nikkei Asian Review.
Xiaomi challenged Samsung in India two years ago and caught Samsung off guard losing the top spot to Xiaomi. In Q3 2019, according to Counterpoint, Xiaomi sat in the number one position with 26% market share and Samsung with 20%. And that's with Samsung introducing their half priced A-Series of Galaxy smartphones.
As you can see, the Chinese vendor invasion into India is in full force with Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme and Oppo taking 4 out of the top 5 positions with Apple nowhere to be seen. It would now appear that Japan is the next market for Chinese smartphone vendors to invade and dominate with Xiaomi leading the way once again.
Of course Japanese consumers view China with caution and so it's not a guarantee that Xiaomi will be able to duplicate their success in Japan as it did in India.
There are strong ties between Japan and the U.S. and the iPhone has been a long standing favorite.
Is it possible that a price war could dislodge Apple's grip in Japan? Only time will tell.
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