Smartphone shipment share by vendor in China 2013-2023
As of 2023, Apple accounted for the highest market share of the Chinese smartphone market at 17.3 percent. In that year, Huawei lost its leading position to the Honor spin-off.
The rise of Huawei
Back in 2014, the smartphone market in China was decentralized with various domestic brands and major international brands like Samsung and Apple all accounting for only around one tenth of the market. During last few years, the market became more concentrated with three domestic brands, namely Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo. The latter two belong to the same consumer electronic technology company BKK, while Huawei claimed to be a privately-owned independent corporation. The three brands have dominated the Chinese smartphone market with a total market share of over 60 percent since 2018. Among the three, Huawei made a huge jump in market share from 2017 to 2019, almost doubling its market share from 20 percent to 38 percent. Moreover, Huawei has expanded outside of China successfully, with a global smartphone market share of over eight percent in the third quarter of 2020.
Chinese smartphone market
As the largest smartphone market in the world, the volume of smartphone shipments in China has been steadily increasing since 2011, with shipments once peaking over 460 million units in 2016. However, the figure started dropping in 2017 and even fell below 400 million units in 2018, parallel to the economic downturn worldwide and demonstrating the slowing down of the Chinese economic growth. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak in the beginning of 2020, the smartphone shipment in China was estimated to have dipped in the first two quarters but would begin to recover again in the rest of the year.
The rise of Huawei
Back in 2014, the smartphone market in China was decentralized with various domestic brands and major international brands like Samsung and Apple all accounting for only around one tenth of the market. During last few years, the market became more concentrated with three domestic brands, namely Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo. The latter two belong to the same consumer electronic technology company BKK, while Huawei claimed to be a privately-owned independent corporation. The three brands have dominated the Chinese smartphone market with a total market share of over 60 percent since 2018. Among the three, Huawei made a huge jump in market share from 2017 to 2019, almost doubling its market share from 20 percent to 38 percent. Moreover, Huawei has expanded outside of China successfully, with a global smartphone market share of over eight percent in the third quarter of 2020.
Chinese smartphone market
As the largest smartphone market in the world, the volume of smartphone shipments in China has been steadily increasing since 2011, with shipments once peaking over 460 million units in 2016. However, the figure started dropping in 2017 and even fell below 400 million units in 2018, parallel to the economic downturn worldwide and demonstrating the slowing down of the Chinese economic growth. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak in the beginning of 2020, the smartphone shipment in China was estimated to have dipped in the first two quarters but would begin to recover again in the rest of the year.
