Why Chinese tech brands are outpacing Western rivals from EVs to robot vacuums
From action cameras and smartphones to EVs and robot vacuums, Chinese brands are gaining ground worldwide despite privacy and security concerns. What's driving their rise, and can European rivals keep up?
GoPro, once synonymous with action cameras, once held a dominant 70% market share in 2015 but now struggles against Chinese rivals like DJI and Insta360, who together now control over 90% of global smart handheld camera sales. Alexander Hannemann, a frequent action camera user, switched from GoPro to Insta360 due to superior quality even during high-speed riding.
This trend is not unique to cameras, as Chinese brands such as BYD and Xpeng now sell most electric cars, outpacing incumbents like Tesla. Chris Pereira, a Canadian entrepreneur with extensive experience in China, attributes this dominance to fierce domestic competition, highly integrated supply chains, a can-do business culture, and low production costs facilitated by industrial automation, AI, regulatory responsiveness, and cheap labor.
However, concerns persist regarding data privacy and security, with Chinese companies facing trust deficits and potential tariffs from Western nations, prompting them to pursue local manufacturing and focus on premium products.
Written by urgent.news from DW English (Top Stories)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
