Samsung struggling in China as market share shrivels

Feb 24, 2017

Smartphone battery fiasco only adds to a litany of woes

The massive Chinese consumer market is not the banquet Samsung Electronics feasted on just a few years ago, with the South Korean consumer electronics behemoth plunging from first place to sixth in the smartphone market and from fifth to eighth in televisions between 2014 and 2016.

While most of its troubles relate to the rise of new Chinese manufacturers, other factors include exploding smartphone batteries and the souring of Sino-South Korean relations.

Samsung smartphones led the market back in 2014, enjoying a 16.6% share by shipment volume. This dropped to 6.7% in 2015 and to a sixth-place 4.4% in 2016, according to Chinese market research company Sigmaintell Consulting.

The homegrown Huawei Technologies, which ranked fifth in 2014, grabbed the top spot in 2015 by offering a succession of feature-packed smartphones. It retained the title in 2016.

Such new entrants as Oppo Electronics also grabbed market share and passed Samsung in the rankings, winning over consumers who fled the South Korean company after it rolled out the Galaxy Note 7 last summer with batteries prone to catching fire.

The Chinese market for flat-panel TVs has been no kinder to Samsung. The company's share shrank from a fifth-place 9.3% in 2014 to an eighth-place 7% in 2016, according to British research firm IHS Technology.

Sales of Samsung TVs to such Chinese customers as hotels have stagnated, reportedly due to soured relations over Seoul's decision to support American plans to deploy a ground-based missile defense system to South Korea.

At a unit in China, rumors swirl among employees that deep workforce cuts are set to begin.

Source: Nikkei Asian Review