China’s newest smartphone player is also its biggest internet company: All the details – Times of India

There may soon be another Chinese giant in the global smartphone market. The biggest internet company in China, Baidu, is reportedly set to launch its first smartphone next week. According to a report in Bloomberg, the Beijing-based company’s Xiaodu unit, similar to Amazon’s Alexa division, will launch its first smartphone next week.
For those unaware, Baidu is China’s rival to Google. Baidu is the biggest search engine in China where Google is banned.
Not the first hardware product for Baidu
Foray into the smartphone market is not the first hardware venture for Baidu. The company already sells smart speakers and displays. According to the report, Baidu is adding a phone to its portfolio as it builds out a hardware ecosystem to complement its internet services.
With the launch of its first smartphone, Baidu enters a market which already is crowded with Chinese players. would mark the first major Chinese entrant in the congested mobile market in years. The world’s five biggest smartphone brands include as many as three Chinese companies. In fact, Apple and Samsung are the only two popular non-Chinese players in the smartphone market.
Five biggest smartphone brands in China
Baidu enters the smartphone market at a time when the market is going through tough times due to uncertainty in the global economy. The smartphone market in China is no different and has witnessed fall. According to Counterpoint Research, China’s smartphone sales fell 5 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023. This is the lowest Q1 sales figure since 2014.
However, this was an improvement from the double-digit YoY declines seen in previous quarters as well as a sign of bottoming out.
In Q1 2023, Apple recorded the biggest share in the China smartphone market, increasing sales by 6% YoY in a declining market. Apple’s market share in Q1 came to 19.9%, its highest Q1 share since 2014, while its sales were also the highest Q1 sales since 2015. Sales of other smartphone brands excluding Apple dropped 8% YoY, with major Android OEMs seeing YoY declines in the quarter as demand remained weak. The other top four in the list are: Apple, Oppo, Vivo, Honor and Xiaomi. Here Oppo includes OnePlus, Xiaomi includes Redmi and Vivo includes iQOO.