Apple drops to fifth place in China’s smartphone market, claims Canalys report

Apple China

iPhone sales in China are not bringing too much good news for Apple in China. Last week, a report by Counterpoint Research revealed almost 19% drop in iPhone sales in China. Now, a report by Canalys suggests that Apple has slipped to fifth spot in the Chinese smartphone market. Apple, according to Canalys, declined the most among the top smartphone brands in China.

It was Huawei who made a solid comeback and topped the smartphone market after 13 quarters. Huawei captured 17 per cent market share as it shipped 11.7 million smartphones in China. Huawei’s Mate and Nova series have been well-received in China, as per Canalys.

Oppo’s Reno 11 series’ strong performance drove it number two spot. Honor was third with 10.6 million units, with a year-on-year increase of 9 per cent whereas Vivo ranked fourth with 10.3 million units and saw a year-on-year decrease of 9 per cent.

Apple declined the most among the top five, with 10 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 25 per cent, noted the Canalys report.

"The Gen AI-capable smartphone presents important opportunities for Chinese vendors to differentiate in the high-end in 2024 to challenge Apple in their home market," said Canalys research analyst Lucas Zhong.

Canalys senior analyst Toby Zhu commented, "The mainland China market's growth is still behind the global recovery of 11%, which allowed Huawei to seize market share and reclaim the crown quickly.” In addition to the high-end lineup, Huawei released the Nova 12 series in December, which features Harmony 4.0, Huawei’s answer to iOS and Android.

“With the continued expansion of the HarmonyOS ecosystem, Huawei emerges as the third OS for smartphones and other edge computing devices, breaking the two-horse race of Android and iOS in Mainland China,” Zhu commented.

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