Honor topped the Chinese smartphone market due to vivo's failure - Apple is back in the top three, while Samsung isn't even in the top five

An insignificant drop in sales did not prevent Honor from leading the Chinese smartphone market in the third quarter of 2023. The main reason is the sharp decline in shipments from major competitors.

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In the top five, only one company was able to increase smartphone sales compared to the third quarter of last year. This is Xiaomi it shipped 9.1 million devices, which is 0.1 million more than a year ago. The share increased from 13% to 14%.

Honor led the way with an 18% share, which grew 1% year-over-year. Shipments, meanwhile, fell from 12 million to 11.8 million units. OPPO retained second place, although sales fell 10%. The company's 10.9 million smartphones were enough to take 16% of the market.

The US giant Apple returned to the top three leading sellers in China. The company at the end of the reporting period controlled 16% of the market, as it did a year earlier. However, sales fell 6% to 10.6 million from 11.3 million.

Finally, vivo fell out of even the top three, although it led the Chinese market last year. Smartphone shipments fell by more than a quarter (26%). It managed to sell 10.4 million devices in the three months, 3.7 million less than last year.

A total of 66.7 million smartphones were sold in China between July and September 2023, 3.1 million (5%) fewer than in the identical period in 2022. It is because of the overall market contraction that Apple has been able to maintain its share despite the drop in sales.

Source: Canalys