Apple was beaten in China by Oppo and Vivo because they failed to adapt to the market, the founder of the two companies claimed.
Duan Yongping, the founder of BBK, which is the parent company of both Oppo and Vivo, told Bloomberg that the Cupertino company didn’t adapt to local trends.
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“Apple couldn’t beat us in China because even they have flaws,” the founder told the publication. “They’re maybe too stubborn sometimes. They made a lot of great things, like their operating system, but we surpass them in other areas.”
Duan is still a fan of Apple and CEO Tim Cook, however.
“I’ve met Tim Cook on several occasions. He might not know me but we’ve chatted a little,” the BBK founder said. “I like him a lot.”
The bigwig’s comments come almost two months after China’s smartphone sales for 2016 were tallied. The result? The IDC found that Vivo (69.2 million) and Oppo (78.4 million) shifted a combined 147.6 million units, followed by Huawei (76.6 million) and Apple (44.9 million).
In fact, an IDC report found that 2016 was the first time Apple saw a year-on-year decline in the market, at just almost 13%.
