“Black Phone” Sales Grab 25% Market Share
From January to June, 23.43 million "black phones" were sold in China.
During that same time, 71.47 million licensed handsets were sold.
In Shenzhen, there is a complete industry chain of black phones and sales are growing.
There are three types of illicit phones -
1. Smuggled phones which evaded customs.
2. knockoffs of famous brands
3. off-brand phones that use chipsets and high-tech parts w/o paying patent fees.
Lenovo, Bird and TCL as well as other mid- and low-end makers have been hit hard.
Legitimate domestic handset makers have seen their market share drop from 50% to 30% in just a few years.
Chinese companies are learning firsthand what it means when someone steals their IP.
Nokia has been hit. Apple's iPhone was sold on domestic websites only two days after its debut despite the fact that it can't be used in China.
3G models are being smuggled in even though the country has not yet issued licenses for the technology.
Black phones are being investigated.
Red phones? Leave them alone. We may need to get a hold of our superhero.
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