The 10 biggest China tech stories of 2015

As yet another year draws to a close (funny how they keep doing that), it’s time to take a look back at what happened in China’s tech industry. 2015 was an interesting year for China’s internet, and picking just ten stories to highlight is difficult, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere. So without further ado, here you go: the ten biggest tech stories in China in 2015.

(Note: These are in roughly chronological order from least to most recent. With one exception, I’ve also chosen to ignore funding stories because while there were many major and important rounds raised in 2015, we’ve covered those in other year-in-review posts.)

1. Apple retakes the smartphone crown

2015 started very strong for Apple with the news that for the first time ever, China was buying more iPhones than the US. And after a 2014 in which Xiaomi took the smartphone lead from Apple, early 2015 brought the news that Apple had taken that lead back, shipping more smartphones in China than Xiaomi (or anyone else). The strong year continued with record-breaking Q2 numbers, and by late October Tim Cook was calling 2015 Apple’s most successful year ever, thanks mostly to strong China sales.

Apple’s gain was Xiaomi’s loss, of course, and the Chinese smartphone maker is facing down a disappointing 2015 result, at least in terms of sales numbers. But we’ll have to wait for Q4 figures to see if Apple truly won the year, as some observers reckon that Huawei will be China’s biggest smartphone seller in 2015.

2. Qualcomm settles monopoly charges with massive payout

Qualcomm’s massive antitrust suit, a big tech story at the end of 2014, ended in 2015 with the American chipmaker paying out a massive US$975 million fine as penance for violating China’s monopoly laws.

The case has had far-reaching (though sometimes subtle) effects on China’s smartphone industry, as many of the country’s smaller smartphone makers were reliant on Qualcomm chips and the patent-sharing agreements the company mandated. With those gone, smaller companies like Xiaomi have this year been forced to sink more money into developing their own patents, while larger companies like Huawei – which already owned a lot of its own patents – have been able to push their advantage.

3. Alibaba struggles over fake products

Alibaba’s battle with fakes – or rather, the company’s alleged reticence to wage a real battle – popped up in the headlines again and again this year. Early in 2015, the company got into a public punch-up with Chinese regulators, with the Chinese State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) publicly stating that Alibaba “has long paid insufficient attention to the illegal business activities on Alibaba platforms.” Jack Ma fired back with some spin.

4. Didi and Kuaidi merge to take on Uber

5. Pollution doc goes viral online, then gets censored

6. Ridesharing’s regulatory future in question

7. Didi and Uber battle it out by burning cash

8. Qihoo’s foray into smartphones turns ugly, contentious

9. China’s A-shares market collapses

10. Alibaba dives into video content, acquires Youku

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