Sales of Chinese smartphones surge in Russia – media

Chinese brands now make up the majority of Russia’s smartphone market, having pushed out the world’s top sellers Apple and Samsung, Kommersant daily reported on Thursday, citing industry data.

The report highlighted that Xiaomi recorded the biggest surge among its Chinese peers, selling the most smartphones in Russia last month, with its share, together with the Poco sub-brand, reaching 42%. Shenzhen-based Realme, a brand of Android-based smartphones, held 17% of Russia’s smartphone market by sales as of July, compared with 13.4% a month earlier.

Data showed that sales of the American and Korean brands in Russia have been declining since the introduction of Western sanctions. Once the market leader, Samsung held just 8.5% of the market by sales as of July, and Apple, 7%. The supply volumes of Apple and Samsung phones have decreased by almost 90% since the beginning of the year, data shows. Prior to that, the two companies had made up almost half of Russia’s smartphone market as measured by sales, shipment volume, and revenue.

Retailers attribute the situation to the lack of official supplies and scarce parallel imports. The combined share of Apple and Samsung in sales could fall to 10% by the end of the year if parallel imports do not gain momentum, distributors predict.

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