China-based white-box smartphone vendors, under increasing competition from vendors including Huawei Device, Lenovo, Xiaomi Technology and Coolpad as well as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, have reduced ex-factory quotes, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.

Quotes for a 5-inch white-box smartphone, for example, have reached as low as US$35, the sources said.

China-based smartphone brand vendors such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo have been growing rapidly in the past few years and are now top-5 vendors worldwide with Huawei and Xiaomi both shipping close to 100 million smartphones a year.

As these vendors gradually expand their sales in China, white-box smartphone players are seeing growing pressure and many of them have already quit the market.

To survive, many remaining white-box players have to aggressively pushing products with industrial design similar to brand-name smartphones such as the iPhone 6s. These products feature 1,280 by 800 4.7- or 5.5-inch displays, MediaTek's MT6592 8-core processor, 5-megapixel front and 8-megapixel rear cameras and operating system user interfaces similar to that of iOS, and they are priced at around US$199.

In addition to copying others' designs, low prices are still the key for white-box players to survive. Some white-box players are also supplying GSM 850/900/1,800/1,900MHz folding feature phones at a price of around US$10 to satisfy demand from emerging markets. China white-box smartphone vendors lower prices to cope with increasing competition

China-based white-box smartphone vendors, under increasing competition from vendors including Huawei Device, Lenovo, Xiaomi Technology and Coolpad as well as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, have reduced ex-factory quotes, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.

Quotes for a 5-inch white-box smartphone, for example, have reached as low as US$35, the sources said.

China-based smartphone brand vendors such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo have been growing rapidly in the past few years and are now top-5 vendors worldwide with Huawei and Xiaomi both shipping close to 100 million smartphones a year.

As these vendors gradually expand their sales in China, white-box smartphone players are seeing growing pressure and many of them have already quit the market.

To survive, many remaining white-box players have to aggressively pushing products with industrial design similar to brand-name smartphones such as the iPhone 6s. These products feature 1,280 by 800 4.7- or 5.5-inch displays, MediaTek's MT6592 8-core processor, 5-megapixel front and 8-megapixel rear cameras and operating system user interfaces similar to that of iOS, and they are priced at around US$199.

In addition to copying others' designs, low prices are still the key for white-box players to survive. Some white-box players are also supplying GSM 850/900/1,800/1,900MHz folding feature phones at a price of around US$10 to satisfy demand from emerging markets.