Chinese smartphones accounted for two-thirds of all new sales in Russia from April to June, the country’s largest electronics retailer said Wednesday, the latest phenomenon in the Russia-Ukraine war to affect Russian consumption. Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi, Realme, and Honor were reported to account for 42 percent of Russian smartphone sales in May 2022, up from 28 percent a year earlier.
While in April, Samsung cell phones occupied 26% of the market share and ranked first, Xiaomi occupied 20% and ranked second, Realme brand entered the top three in terms of piece sales with 11.2% share, Apple iPhone ranked fourth with 10.3% share, and Glory ranked fifth with 5.7% share.
Earlier, Apple announced a ban on the sale of iPhones and other products in the Russian market due to the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Samsung Electronics also announced that the company’s product shipments to Russia were suspended in light of the current geopolitical developments.
On June 22, local time, Russia passed a law on parallel imports and published a list of goods that are allowed to be imported in parallel (commonly known as parallel imports), which includes Samsung smartphones and the latest series of Apple phones, among others. According to the law, Russia can legally parallel import some foreign goods according to the list and does not need to get the consent of the copyright owner of the goods in advance.
