Huawei Beats Apple In Mainland China Shipments

Huawei surpassed Apple in smartphone shipments in mainland China in August for the first time in 46 months, or nearly four years, research firm CINNO has found, as the two companies go head-to-head in the world’s biggest smartphone market.

Government research group China Academy of Information and Communications Technology found shipments of foreign smartphones on the mainland, including the iPhone, declined 12.7 percent in August.

Foreign shipments fell to 1.87 million units, down from 2.14 million a year earlier, while shipments of domestic brands rose 26.7 percent to 24.05 million, the group said.

Huawei was sanctioned by the US in 2019, preventing it from obtaining many technologies critical to manufacturing smartphones.

Sales battle

But has been riding a wave of domestic popularity since last year, when it began began selling flagship devices that use domestically produced 5G chips and processors.

Huawei also leads the mainland Chinese and global markets in foldable smartphones, whose overall shipments grew 85 percent worldwide in the April to June period, according to TechInsights.

The company’s average selling price and wholesale revenue rose to record highs in the second quarter on popularity of its Mate and Pura smartphones and foldable devices, TechInsights said.

China remains Huawei’s principal market, accounting for 89 percent of its worldwide smartphone shipments, the firm said.

Huawei was the biggest smartphone maker in mainland China in the first half of the year, with 17.5 percent of the market, with total domestic shipments greater than 140 million units, up 7.7 percent from a year earlier, IDC said.

Last month the company directly challenged Apple when it launched the Mate XT double-hinged, or tri-fold, smartphone on the same day as Apple launched its iPhone 16 range.

Key market

Apple reported revenues of $14.7 billion (£11.2bn) for the Greater China region, comprising mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, for the June quarter, down 6.5 percent year-on-year.

In July Canalys found Apple had dropped out of the top five in the mainland China smartphone market in the second quarter, following local smartphone brands, even as the market grew 10 percent year-on-year, with shipments exceeding 70 million units.

iPhone shipments fell by 6.7 percent during the quarter, Canalys found.

The company’s total shipments in China for the quarter ended in June stood at 9.7 million units, down from 10.4 million units in the same quarter last year, Canalys data showed.

The company fell to sixth place in China with a market share of 14 percent, down from 16 percent a year ago, Canalys said.