According to a recent study using big data analytics, Taipei-based MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute) found that Chinese brands dominated smartphone sales on China's online stores Tmall and JD during 15 May 2015 and 15 August 2015. Out of the top-10 selling smartphone models, Xiaomi posted the best sales performance, with Redmi 2A standing at the top place, Redmi Note at the third place, and Mi 4 at the fifth place. Meanwhile, Huawei has become the second largest smartphone brand in China, only trailing behind Xiaomi. As for foreign brands, Apple is still strongly favored by Chinese consumers, with iPhones dominating the top-3 foreign smartphone models.

By collecting data from China's most influential social network platform Sina Weibo, MIC further finds that, to Internet shoppers in China, smartphone brands Apple, Xiaomi, and Huawei fall into the category of "mainstay products with high reviews." Smartphone buyers of these three brands posted favorable reviews on C/P (cost-performance) ratio and operational readiness. By contrast, Samsung, which is also a mainstay brand, received average reviews, as buyers complained about product quality and difficulty in obtaining repair services. In terms of niche products, Vivo, with its powerful entertainment functions, had high reviews and is favored by younger consumers.

Sentiment Ranking by Smartphone Brand

Note: This mapping provides cross-analysis between the number of times mentioned online and net sentiment rate of a brand; number of times mentioned online refer to the number of times Internet users mentioned a specific brand; Net Sentiment Rate (NSR) = (Positive Posts – Negative Posts)/ (Positive Posts + Negative Posts)
Source: Sina Weibo, compiled by MIC, October 2015

To see more about this report, please visit: Brand Competition and Consumer Preference of the Chinese Smartphone Market

For future receipt of press releases, or more information about MIC research findings, please contact MIC Public Relations.

About MIC

Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english