Chinese smartphone brands are quite popular in Asian countries. The popularity is such that the Chinese brands are giving tough competition to well-established brands. Yesterday, we reported that Xiaomi has become the most preferred smartphone brand in India. Now, fresh information coming from supply chain in Taiwan brands like HTC and ASUS are losing popularity in China, India and Southeast Asia mainly because of the growing popularity of Chinese smartphone vendors in these regions.
Due to low supply of displays and camera modules, ASUS smartphone shipments declined below the expected number in the last quarter of 2016. As a result, the Taiwanese company shipped 20 million units in the previous year which is lower than its target of shipping 25 million smartphones. Since it shipped lesser number of smartphones, it could achieve a small number of sales.
ASUS has been making efforts to sell more of mid-range and high-end smartphones, but its growth has been hampered by poor supply of OLED panels. As the Taiwanese company failed to acquire a sufficient number of OLED panels from Samsung Display, it is now availing OLED panels from Tianma Micro-electronics, a firm based in China.
Related: HTC U Massive Leak: Full Specifications, All Features Revealed As Release Draws Near
HTC’s poor performance in Asian markets is no surprise as the Taiwanese company has been going through a struggling phase for a few years across the world. HTC has attempted to ramp up its shipments in China and global markets in Q1 this year as there is stiff competition from Chinese brands like Huawei, OPPO, Xiaomi, Vivo and Gionee. In December 2016, Acer, another Taiwanese firm, had announced its back out from smartphone business in India as It sold only 30,000 units in 2016.
ASUS is expected to launch its ZenFone 4 series soon. HTC has confirmed that it will be launching six to seven smartphones in this year. Recent rumors hint that HTC is likely to launch HTC U flagship phone later in this month. Will the upcoming phones help ASUS and HTC in improving market performance? Do let us know your views by adding comments below.
