Huawei Returns to the Top of the Chinese Smartphone Market

On February 4th, according to data released by market research firm Counterpoint, Huawei secured the top spot in terms of smartphone sales in the Chinese market during the first two weeks of 2024.

Since the implementation of US sanctions in 2019, Huawei’s market share has been declining. This time, it is also the first time that Huawei has regained the top spot in sales after a two-year hiatus.

The report states that there are three main factors behind Huawei’s recent significant increase in sales. Firstly, the Mate 60 series, equipped with Huawei’s self-developed Kirin 9000S chip, has been driving the sales growth. Secondly, Huawei users have shown high brand loyalty. And thirdly, the progress of HarmonyOS operating system has been rapid. In mid-January, Huawei announced that it will launch the commercial version of HarmonyOS NEXT in the fourth quarter of this year and will no longer be compatible with Android.

Apart from the Mate60 series, Huawei also launched the Nova12 series in December last year. According to online teardown videos, the Nova12 Ultra, Nova 12, and Pro versions are all equipped with Kirin processors and support 5G.

In fact, Huawei’s smartphone sales have shown a significant increase in the fourth quarter of 2023.

According to a report released by International Data Corporation (IDC), in the fourth quarter of 2023, Huawei ranked fourth in terms of market share with 13.9% in the Chinese smartphone market, experiencing a year-on-year growth of 36.2%, and re-entering the top five in the Chinese market.

The previous situation of tight production capacity for the Huawei Mate60 series is gradually improving.

Multiple Huawei mobile phone distributors have revealed that some configurations of the Mate60 Pro are available for normal supply, such as the 12GB+1TB version, and they are not being sold at a high premium. However, it is still difficult to get hold of popular versions like the 12GB+256GB.

According to the Counterpoint report, the high-end smartphone market in China grew by 27% in 2023. Apple still ranks first, but starting from the third quarter of 2023, Apple’s market share has been gradually eroded by Huawei and other Chinese brands.

Besides Apple, other Chinese manufacturers have also had to start thinking about strategies to respond to Huawei’s full return. Xiaomi, Vivo, Honor, and OPPO are all in a critical period of challenging the high-end market. With Huawei’s increased production capacity, domestic brands will face a true test in the high-end market.

SEE ALSO: Huawei May Release A New Foldable Pocket Phone in February, Codenamed LEM