Riding last year’s stunning announcement, Huawei tops Apple in China after first weeks of 2024،
Consumers in the world's largest smartphone market have spoken, and after the first six weeks of 2024, iPhone sales plunged 24% in China year-over-year.
Search for counterpoint explains that an unusually strong January 2023 and tough competition are responsible for this huge drop. Some of this competition comes from a resurgent Huawei which is still benefiting from the runaway success of the Mate 60
series.
Announced last August, the Mate 60 range is powered by the first Kirin 5G chip produced for Huawei since 2020, when US export rules were put in place. These rules prevent foundries using American technology from shipping cutting-edge chips to Huawei. As a result, Huawei's previous flagship lineups, like the P50, Mate 50, and P60, were powered by Snapdragon chips that Huawei had licensed; however, these chips have been modified to not work with 5G networks.
As expected, Huawei's introduction of the 5G Mate 60 series electrified Chinese phone buyers and Huawei saw sales jump 64% in the first six weeks of this year compared to the first six weeks of last year.
Huawei continues to gain momentum with the stunning release of the 5G Mate 60 series
Overall, smartphone sales in China declined 7% on an annual basis in the first six weeks of the year.
Vivo was the top phone maker in China in the first six weeks of 2024 with 18% of the market. This remains stable with the 19% market share it held last year at the same period, although sales decreased by 15% in the period 2024 compared to 2023. After the first month and a half Last year, Vivo was tied with Apple at the top of the market. China sales charts.
Huwaei's market share increased from 9% after the first six weeks of 2023 to 17%. It now finds itself behind Vivo in China after ranking sixth a year ago. Apple and Honor are tied for third, both with 16% of the Chinese phone market after six weeks. This time last year, Apple was tied for first place and Honor was in the middle of the pack. While Apple suffered a 24% drop in sales in China this year, Honor saw sales increase 2% year-over-year after six weeks.
In the first month and a half of the new year, Xiaomi saw its sales in China drop 7%, leaving it in fifth place with exactly the same 14% share of the Chinese phone market as last year at the same time.
Oppo finished in sixth place after a disastrous 29% sales drop to kick off the new year. The latter held, after six weeks, 13% of the Chinese smartphone market. That's down from the 17% share it held at the same time last year, when it was third after Apple and Vivo tied for first place.
China is the world's largest smartphone market, followed by India in second place and the United States in third place.