Samsung in Trouble – The Cell Phone Giant You’ve Never Heard Of

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In Germany there is a threat of a shortage of cheap smartphones: a sales ban imposed by Nokia means that the Chinese brands Oppo and OnePlus will disappear from our neighbors’ stores for the time being. And Nokia also accuses the Realme and Vivo brands of patent infringements. All these mobile phone brands have one thing in common: they come from the Chinese electronics giant BBK, which with its various brands is one of the three largest smartphone manufacturers in the world – and yet hardly anyone knows about it. A search for clues.

Market researcher Canalys’ smartphone ranking shows the following market shares for the second quarter of 2022: Samsung is the global market leader in smartphones with 21 percent (2021: 18 percent), while American rival Apple takes silver with 17 percent (2021: 14 per cent). In third place comes Xiaomi (2022: 14 percent; 2021: 17 percent), the first Chinese brand. Places four and five are taken by Oppo (10 percent) and Vivo (9 percent).

BBK brands are also popular in Europe these days
Previously popular in emerging countries, Oppo and Vivo devices are now also available in Europe. Both brands come from the environment of the BBK conglomerate, which also includes other popular brands – such as OnePlus and Realme. The fifth largest smartphone brand, Vivo, emphasizes that it is independent from BBK. But just like Oppo, OnePlus and Realme, the brand has its origins in the Chinese electronics giant.

The BBK story started in the mid 1990s. Originally, the company produced appliances ranging from Discmans and DVD players to home appliances. According to the “Android Authority”, the goods were also marketed under well-known international brands at the time. In 2004, shortly before the start of the smartphone revolution, BBK founder Duan Yongping launched Oppo. The brand was initially used for DVD and BluRay players, but soon established itself in the smartphone market.

BBK created one brand after another
One brand followed another: In 2009, Duan and current company boss Shen Wei founded the Vivo brand, which today refers to the independence of BBK and is now also popular in Europe. 2013 followed – see video – with OnePlus, founded by Oppo Vice President Pete Lau and Carl Pei, who is now active with his “Nothing Phone”, the most famous brand of the BBK group. From the beginning, OnePlus relied heavily on direct sales and secured a worldwide fan base with strong hardware at reasonable prices.

OnePlus smartphones are now also more expensive, the new cheap brand from the BBK environment is called Realme. It was founded in 2018 by former Oppo Vice President Sky Li, but first appeared in 2010 as “Oppo Real”. The Oppo spin-off is mainly aimed at price-conscious smartphone buyers and has also built up a fan base with good features at affordable prices. In recent years, BBK has expanded rapidly with Realme in Europe and India. Long available through German online stores, the brand recently celebrated its official launch in Austrian retail.

It’s getting tight at the top for Apple and Samsung
If you add up the market shares of all brands – Oppo, OnePlus, Realme and Vivo, which claims to be independent – of the BBK environment, it becomes clear what a giant it is. The brands Oppo, OnePlus and Vivo, which emerged from BBK, have a global market share of almost 20 percent alone – not even counting Realme. If you also add the cheap brand, things get tight at the top, even for the heavyweights Samsung and Apple.

Source: Krone

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