The rise of Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi, Huawei, Vivo and Oppo in the world mobile phone market over the last few years is evident, but these companies have been reportedly challenged in their own den by Apple's iPhone SE. A report by DigiTimes has claimed that the arrival of the relatively low-priced 4-inch iPhone has eaten up the market share of China's local companies.
The iPhone SE received more than 3.4 million pre-orders in China when it was opened on March 24, reported CNBC, citing data gathered from local vendors. The figures may not convert into actual purchases, but it surely gives out the message that the device could eat up the revenue of local companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo that are known for selling feature-rich devices at a reasonable price.
Suppliers in the mobile handset supply chain in China and Taiwan are showing restraint in "building up inventories for parts and components" owing to stiff competition after the release of the iPhone SE, reported DigiTimes, citing sources from Taiwan's handset supply chain.
Sources went on to say that camera module suppliers are apprehensive about mobile phone manufacturers' efforts to introduce dual lenses in their upcoming smartphones after a bitter experience last year. They kept the inventories high in 2015 following encouragement from phone makers, however, most companies shipped only 70-80 percent of the projected shipment.
Pre-orders for Apple's iPhone SE in China was indeed good, but it is still not known whether it has actually affected the sales of handsets from other companies, including Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC and others.
The iPhone SE sports a 4-inch retina display with 1,136x640 pixels (326 ppi pixel density) and Touch-ID fingerprint sensor in the home button. Under the hood, it has an A9 chip, an iOS 9.3, a 16GB/64GB internal storage, a 2GB RAM, a 12MP iSight main camera with 1.22µ pixels, a 1.2MP front-snapper, and a 1,624mAh battery.
