SAN FRANCISCO: Apple lost more ground in the shrinking smartphone market last quarter, with a sales tracker saying the tech giant was pushed off the top-three seller list by a Chinese rival.
While California-based Apple has been aggressively promoting iPhones, current-generation smartphones have"super-premium" prices while models a few years old are still costly compared to bargain Android-powered handsets, the analyst reasoned. The combined global smartphone market share of Chinese firms Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Realme reached a new high of 42 per cent in the second quarter, according to Counterpoint.
Apple has been striving to wean itself off its reliance on iPhone sales with a focus on services, digital content and related gadgets. The company delivered strong growth from digital content and services including Apply Pay and Apple Music, along with wearables and accessories like the Apple Watch and Air Pods.