> They make luxury products and yet everyone owns one. That is the real genius.

Right. Everyone.

Selling opposites is a pretty basic marketing gambit. The exclusive must-have, the affordable luxury item, etc.

> Any other company that sells like phones at Apple's price range will FAIL.

Vivo and Oppo ( subsidiaries of the same parent ) dominate the high-end on China and maintain their image by selling at ' Apple Prices'. Their Western models are often more expensive...

No they don't. The apple of china is of course...apple. Vivo and oppo don't come close to iPhone market share in the high end PRC market.

November 2014 China smartphone marketshares: Vivo 6%, Apple 5%

Vivo don't do low-end models either.

Weird. I've never even heard of Vivo. All the wealthy Chinese people I know have an iPhone. I genuinely believe that they would be embarrassed to have anything other than an iPhone. They shake their head when I tell them how great an Android is. Even on TV, in the dramas, the rich characters always use iPhone and Macs. I've never seen anyone use a Lenovo or Vivo phone on chinese TV drama.

To be fair, Samsung is also considered kind of high end. They won't let you into starbucks unless you have an iPhone or Samsung something (just joking, sort of).

I've never seen a vivo in Beijing before. iPhones...plenty, but vivo?

Also, there phones look mighty affordable (none above 3K RMB):

http://search.jd.com/Search?keyword=vivo&enc=utf-8

Compare to iphones (all new models > 4K RMB):

http://search.jd.com/Search?keyword=iphone&enc=utf-8