The Chinese mobile phone manufacturers vivo and Huawei overtook the American Apple last year in sales in China and pushed it out of the top of the list, data from research company Canalys showed on Thursday.
Last year, 285 million mobile phones were delivered to customers in China, four percent more than in 2023, Canalys calculated.
The majority of mobile phones were delivered by domestic manufacturers. vivo, a total of 49.3 million, by 11 percent more than in the previous year. Its market share increased last year by one percentage point and amounted to 17 percent.
In second place is Huawei with 46 million delivered devices, 37 percent more than in the previous year. Its market share increased by four percentage points, to 16 percent.
In third place is the American Apple with 42.9 million mobile phones sold, 17 percent less than in 2023.
“It’s Apple’s worst performance in China,” notes Canalys analyst Tony Zhou.
The market share of the American company decreased last year by four percentage points and amounted to 15 percent, which equaled it with Chinese competitors OPPO and Honor.
In the period from October to December, Apple delivered to Chinese customers the most mobile phones in the group of leading manufacturers, a total of 13.1 million. However, the figure is less by 25 percent than in the same period in 2023.
Vivo and Huawei share second place in that group with 12.9 million devices shipped each, 14 and 24 percent more than at the end of the previous year, respectively.
Xiaomi’s deliveries jumped the most in the period from October to December, by 29 percent, with 12.2 million devices delivered.
“Apple’s position in the mobile phone market in the highest price category faces several challenges: Huawei’s continuous presentation of new models, the production of foldable mobile phones in the higher price category and the efforts of brands with the Android operating system, such as Xiaomi and vivo, to keep spend with technological innovation,” explained Zhou.