As China's smartphone market is seeing weakening growth, China-based smartphone vendors including Oppo, Xiaomi and Huawei, have been aggressively expanding their products into overseas markets.
Oppo currently considers India as one of its key markets, and focuses its marketing efforts to promote sales of its smartphones in the local sports and entertainment segments.
Oppo is also ramping up its production in India, with an aim to push sales of smartphones made in India to other markets, including the Middle East, North Asia and Southeast Asia, the sources noted.
Xiaomi has been pushing a complete lineup of products, including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, air cleaners, set-up boxes and routers, to promote its brand image in India and other overseas markets.
Xiaomi ranked as the second largest smartphone vendor in India in the fourth quarter of 2016, adding more pressure on other China-based vendors to expand market share in the country, the sources indicated.
Xiaomi has recently stepped up its marketing efforts in Mexico, including the establishment of a "Mi Community LATAM" social network to promote its smartphones.
Meanwhile, Huawei has teamed up with Flex India to manufacture smartphones in India. Huawei has also set up a chain of more than 200 service centers in India to provide after-sale services.
Huawei has used Europe as a primary location to showcase its new flagship models and promote its brand image for several years, and has seen its smartphone sales in Europe and the US continue to grow.
Including exports, Huawei shipped a total of 29.3 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2017, making it the largest handset maker in China in the quarter, according to data compiled by Digitimes Research.
Oppo ranked second with shipments totaling 23.5 million units in the first quarter, while Vivo took the third position with shipments reaching 18.1 million units, the data showed.
China-based handset makers are expected to ship a total of 151.8 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2017, down 2.7% from the previous quarter, Digitimes Research estimated.
