Apple loses ground in China while Huawei soars during Q3

Apple’s market share declined in the Chinese market, revealed a couple of reports on the local smartphone shipments. IDC and Canalys both confirmed that vivo was the best-selling company in Q3 2024, with Huawei and Xiaomi also seeing a huge increase in shipments, while their American competitor failed to match its results from twelve months ago.

Smartphone shipments in China during Q3 2024 according to IDC & Canalys

While different analysts take different approaches to gathering their data, the overall picture clearly shows that the market in China is getting tighter. The difference between the first and fifth place is only 5pp.

IDC: Foldable smartphone shipments in total volume and market share

Between July and September 2024, vivo kept covering multiple price ranges to appeal to many consumers. We also had Apple with its latest iPhones; Huawei relied on the patriotic note as faces restrictions due to US sanctions. Xiaomi sold phones at a lower price and a lower margin, while Honor launched the Magic Flip and Magic V3 foldables.

IDC: Smartphone market share by price category

IDC revealed that shipments of phones over (the equivalent of) $600 grew to nearly 30%, while the share of premium devices ($400-$600) sank to 6.6%. This includes foldable smartphones, whose shipments grew 13.6% on a yearly basis.

Canalys: Market performance in Mainland China during Q3 2024

Regarding foldables, Huawei remains the undisputed leader with 41% of all sales in Q3, followed by Honor with 21.9% market share. Xiaomi, Samsung, and vivo completed the Top 5.

Source 1 (in Chinese) • Source 2 | Via