Oppo has taken over the top spot of smartphone manufacturer in China; according to the current report of market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

Analyst firm IDC report states that Oppo more than doubled its shipment volumes over the year prior, to climb the top spot and beating its strong local contenders like Huawei and Xiaomi as well as Apple which experience declined in sale in the country.

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According to IDC, Chinese consumers are always seeking smartphone upgrades and Oppo is giving it to them. The Chinese smartphone maker is assertively targeting China, India and Southeast Asian countries for their mobile devices.

Oppo has shipped 78.4 million mobile units in China in 2016, earning the first spot. Its sister company Vivo 69.2 million handsets, making it to the third spot. Meanwhile, Huawei is the second on the list with 76.6 million handsets shipped last year. Apple and Xiaomi have gotten the fourth and fifth positions respectively. Guangzhou-based BBK owns both Oppo and Vivo, both of them are first timers in topping the annual smartphone sales chart in the country.

“Increased dependence on mobile apps has led to consumers to seek phone upgrades, thus helping drive the large growth in 2016Q4. In lower tiered cities, there was a similar demand by consumers, which OPPO and vivo met by aggressively pushing mid-range smartphones in these cities,” says Tay X iaohan, senior market analyst with IDC Asia/Pacific’s Client Devices team.

IDC has reported that online smartphone market slowed down in 2016 and most of brands will use combination of channels to increase their shipments from this day forward. The research firm believes that Chinese smartphone manufacturer will continue to dominate the market in 2017. The top three Chinese smartphone makers will continue to explore global markets and India will be the target while strengthening their local presence as well.

TagsOppo, apple, IDC, vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei, Smartphone