China’s smartphone sales bottomed out in Q4 2023, increasing 6.6 percent YoY to mark the first quarterly YoY growth after 10 consecutive quarters of YoY declines, according to Counterpoint’s Market Pulse Service.
Huawei’s comeback with its own 5G chipsets continued to attract consumers, while Xiaomi and HONOR sustained strong performance with double-digit growth.
Despite a 9 percent YoY drop, Apple retained its first position in Q4 with a 20.2 percent market share, followed by Xiaomi (16 percent) and HONOR (15.2 percent).
However, from an annual perspective, China’s smartphone sales still declined 1.4 percent YoY, compared to a 13.9 percent YoY decline in 2022.
Apple ranked first with a 17.9 percent share, followed by vivo (16.9 percent) and OPPO (16.2 percent).
“There are several factors behind the YoY growth in Q4 2023. The market was at a low point in Q4 2022, making YoY comparisons more favorable,” said Associate Director Ethan Qi.
Research Analyst Archie Zhang said that Huawei’s Kirin chipset was the primary driver of the brand’s growth.
In Q4 2023, Apple faced stiff competition from Huawei. Besides, the iPhone 15 series’ performance was lukewarm, something which was also indicated by the strong sales of the iPhone 14 series in H1.
“It seems OPPO and vivo are yet to benefit from the market recovery so far,” said the report.
The market is expected to record low single-digit YoY growth in 2024, the first one since 2018.
