China In-Focus — China’s smartphone market share rises in Russia; Tesla goes ahead with China hiring event

Realme has seen its sales share grow in Russia (Shutterstock)
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BEIJING: China’s market share in the Russian smartphone market jumped significantly in May as manufacturers including Apple and Samsung paused new sales in the country and Western sanctions weighed on its economy.

Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi, Realme and Honor accounted for 42 percent of Russia’s smartphone sales last month, according to data from mobile network MTS which was shared with Reuters — up from 28 percent during the same month in 2021.

South Korea’s Samsung lost its spot as the market leader, with 14 percent of devices sold versus 28 percent last year, and Apple’s share dropped to 9 percent from 12 percent.

Overall smartphone sales were down 26 percent year-on-year, MTS said, as Western sanctions and supply chain disruptions have severely hit Russia’s consumer economy.

Tesla goes ahead with China hiring event after Musk job warning

Tesla added two dozen new job postings for China on Thursday and kept open an invitation to a hiring event a week after Elon Musk threatened job cuts at the electric car maker, saying the company was “overstaffed” in some areas.

Tesla had announced plans to hold the event online starting from 7 p.m. Shanghai time (1100 GMT) to recruit staff for “smart manufacturing” roles, according to an online post. The event was not visible from other accounts as of late Thursday and it was not immediately clear whether it had proceeded for applicants.

Tesla had no immediate comment, according to Reuters.

Tesla had 224 current openings in China for managers and engineers under that category, according to a separate post on its WeChat account, 24 of which were newly posted on June 9. Among the posted positions are managers and engineers to supervise the operation of its 6,000-ton die casting machines known as Giga Press, one of the world’s biggest.

Tesla regularly holds such hiring events online in China, with the latest one held in May for summer interns.

(With input from Reuters)