Huawei is the top smartphone brand in China during Q4 while Apple has a rough quarter - PhoneArena

A new report from Counterpoint revealed that Huawei enjoyed a strong fourth quarter in China with sales rising 15.5% during the last three months of the year. As a result, the beleaguered manufacturer took the top spot in China’s smartphone market for Q4 holding a market share of 18.1%. That compares to the company’s third-place 15.2% share captured during the fourth quarter of 2023.

Thanks to a sharp 18.2% drop in sales during the quarter, Apple, which was the leader in China during the 2023 fourth quarter with a market share of 20.2% in the world’s largest smartphone market, finished third. Apple was right behind second-place Xiaomi as the latter had a market share of 17.2% in China following a 3.9% increase in sales year-over-year. Xiaomi also finished second to Apple during 2023’s fourth quarter.

vivo moved up a rung from fifth place during Q4 2023 to fourth place in China during Q4 2024. Sales rose 8% as vivo’s slice of the Chinese smartphone pie rose from 14.6% to 15.3% on an annual basis. Honor had a rough Q4 in China with sales dropping 12.8%. The company’s market share during the last quarter of 2024 declined to 13.6% from the previous year’s 15.1%.

Oppo remained mired in seventh place where it was during Q4 2023 and Q4 2024. During the latter quarter, Oppo’s sales dropped 9.3% giving the manufacturer 12.5% of the Chinese smartphone market during the final three months of 2024 compared to the 13.3% market share earned by Oppo during the same quarter the previous year.

Huawei is the top smartphone brand in the world’s number one market. | Image credit-Gizmochina

Huawei’s resurgence was helped along by its ability to obtain its own Kirin 5G application processors. The latest AP designed by Huawei, the Kirin 9020, is built by China’s largest foundry (SMIC) using its 7nm node. The chipset is being used to power Huawei’s Mate 70 flagship series. Thanks to U.S. sanctions, chip foundries that use American technology to manufacture chips are not allowed to supply Huawei with cutting-edge silicon.

Overall, China’s smartphone market suffered a 3.2% decline in sales year-over-year during the fourth quarter of 2024. It was the only quarter in 2024 to show such a decline during the year. For all of 2024, smartphone shipments in China rose 1.5% compared to 2023. The top manufacturer was vivo (17.5% market share) followed by Huawei (16.3%), and Xiaomi (15.7%).

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