“Russian-made Smartphones Lose Market Share to Chinese Brands”

Sales data show that local manufacturers have not only failed to increase their market share, they have even lost it. Sales of Russian-made smartphones in the first quarter of this year have decreased by more than half compared to the corresponding period of last year, reports the Russian publication “Vedomosti”.

If 99,300 smartphones manufactured in Russia were sold in January-March last year, then in the first three months of this year – only 46,900. Among them, the most popular brand of smartphones manufactured in Russia was “BQ” – 32,800 mobile phones of this brand were sold in the first quarter.

Consequently, the market share of Russian-made mobile phones in the domestic market has dropped from 1% to 0.5%.

The reason for the decline is the massive entry of Chinese manufacturers into the Russian market.

Experts have admitted to the publication that domestic Russian products cannot compete with Chinese brands due to aging technologies.

“There are two options for improving demand: either to enter the mid-price segment while simultaneously improving the technical parameters and quality of products, or to close the Russian market to foreign players,” Fintech Lab analyst Sergejs Viljanov told “Vedomosti”.

In general, this year, according to experts’ forecasts, about 200 thousand locally produced smartphones could be sold in Russia.