New phones from manufacturers such as Huawei and Apple helped boost China’s smartphone sales last quarter, returning the iPhone maker to the top five brands in the world’s largest mobile phone market.
China’s smartphone shipments rose 3.2% year-on-year to 68.8 million units in the quarter ended September, according to preliminary data released by market intelligence firm IDC on Friday.
“A significant wave of device upgrades is driving the sustained recovery of China’s smartphone market,” Arthur Guo, senior research analyst at IDC China, said in the report. Despite China’s broader economic challenges, shoppers remain “highly motivated” to buy new mobile phones.
Huawei led the surge in smartphone shipments, which rose 42% year-on-year in the last quarter. The Chinese tech giant has now enjoyed four consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth following its return to the premium phone market with the Mate 60 last August. The phone was praised by Chinese state media for having an advanced domestically produced processor despite US sanctions.
Last quarter, Huawei announced a tri-fold smartphone with three screens.
“Huawei’s double-digit growth was once again fueled by its premium image and the buzz it generated with its tri-fold phones,” said Will Wong, senior research manager in IDC’s Asia Pacific client devices group. .
Huawei is currently the third largest smartphone player in China with a 15.3% market share.
Apple, which launched its latest iPhone on September 20, has returned to the top five smartphone manufacturers in China based on unit shipments. Apple has a 15.6% market share in China, ranking second overall, just ahead of Huawei, according to IDC data.
According to IDC, Apple ranked 6th in the second quarter of 2024, marking the first quarter in four years that only Chinese companies were in the top five.
Still, Apple’s smartphone shipments fell 0.3% last quarter compared to the same period last year. Upcoming shopping events such as Singles’ Day are likely to boost sales in the final quarter of the year.
Independent research has previously suggested that Apple is losing ground in China due to competition from local brands such as Huawei, Honor and Xiaomi.
Vivo led China’s mobile phone shipments last quarter with a market share of 18.6%. Xiaomi and Honor are in the top five after Apple and Huawei.
IDC expects smartphone shipments to improve in the final quarter of this year due to the early kickoff of Singles’ Day, the world’s biggest shopping festival.
Apple, Huawei, Vivo and Xiaomi each earned 100 million yuan ($14 million) in direct sales on Monday, the first day of direct sales from e-commerce giant Alibaba (owned by Alibaba). South China Morning Post.
This article originally appeared on Fortune.com
