China's market battle: how local smartphone brands are pushing Apple to the margins

The summer smartphone sales season in China proved to be quite successful, as overall sales growth increased by 4% year-on-year to 69.1 million units in the third quarter of 2024. One of the important developments during this period was the change in the Chinese market leader.

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Domestic brands such as Vivo and Huawei have strengthened their position, pushing Apple back to fifth place. Vivo leads with 13 million units and 19 per cent of the market, thanks to successful sales of mid-price segment products. Huawei came second with 10.8 million units and 16% of the market, thanks to an active channel strategy that successfully supported their flagship devices.

Honor, despite the popularity of their new foldable phones, struggled and came in third place with 10.3 million units sold. Xiaomi came fourth with 10.2 million units and 15 per cent of the market, thanks to its Human x Car x Home strategy.

Apple, facing a 6 per cent drop in shipments, ranked fifth, which can be attributed to the absence of Apple Intelligence in the iPhone 16 series. Apple's sales in India are also not doing well - it is not even in the top five there, while Vivo has emerged as a sales leader in that country as well.

Source: Canalys