Daniel Slotta
Research expert covering Greater China
Smartphone market in China - statistics & facts
From cheap cell phones at the turn of the century to a 2,600 Euro, triple-fold, premium smartphone, the Chinese smartphone industry has come a long way since the early 2000’s when clandestine manufactures engineered mobile phones around MediaTek’s wildly available chipset. Today, China is the largest smartphone market in the world with some of the world’s largest brands.
While Apple is the only overseas brand that prevails in the Chinese market, home brands become increasingly successful in global markets. With their competitive pricing, they have the edge in developing economies. For instance, the brand Transsion focuses mainly on the MENA and African markets.
Taking over China and then the world
There is fierce competition in the Chinese smartphone market, dominated by domestic brands. After more than a decade, market shares have been divided among the six industry leaders. However, despite this, Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Honor, and Huawei fight for market position constantly, resulting in varying market shares every quarter.While Apple is the only overseas brand that prevails in the Chinese market, home brands become increasingly successful in global markets. With their competitive pricing, they have the edge in developing economies. For instance, the brand Transsion focuses mainly on the MENA and African markets.
The fall and rise of Huawei
The past decade has been a rollercoaster for Huawei. Until 2020, the company was China’s leading smartphone brand, with market shares of over 40 percent. However, the company’s addition to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List in 2019 and 2020, restricted the company’s access to U.S.-made chips that were essential for the smartphone products. Consequently, Huawei sold its smartphone brand Honor and almost entirely halted its smartphone operation. In late 2023, however, Huawei surprised the industry with the release of the Mate 60 Pro that included a domestically developed 5G chip, clawing its way back to success, and released a triple-fold premium smartphone.Impenetrable domestic players expanding west
It will be an uphill battle for any company that intends to enter the Chinese smartphone market. This is part of the reasoning for brands like Transsion skipping the domestic market altogether and targeting overseas customers directly. The larger brands are still in the process of establishing themselves in the European market, with Xiaomi being the most successful. While the Chinese smartphone industry is mature, the fast-moving nature of the market can create opportunities as companies continue to utilize the domestic ecosystem as a jumping board to gain traction overseas.
