Apple's iPhone dominant in China, Samsung falls out of second place
Article Hero Image
AppleInsider may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made through links on our site.
New sales date from the second quarter of 2022 shows that Apple's iPhone remains the best-selling smartphone in China, and local rival Vivo has overtaken Samsung for second place.
The iPhone is consistently the most popular smartphone in China, with half of all smartphones sold during the 6.18 Festival being Apple's. Now Counterpoint Research claims that Apple has kept that strong lead, but local rivals are making the list of top ten vendors change.
"Apple did well in the $1,000 and above segment, recording 147% YoY increase, while Samsung also grew 133% YoY," said Counterpoint Research analyst Mengmeng Zhang in a statement. "Both these brands benefitted from Huawei's decline and the shift in purchase trends towards premium phones in China."
"[However, driven] by the vivo X80 series' success, vivo grew 504% YoY in the premium segment," continued Zhang. "The vivo X series perfectly combines design and performance for this segment, helping vivo perform well in online channels."
Source: Counterpoint Research
Comparing Q2 2022 with the same period a year ago, Apple has grown from a 43% market share to a 48% one. Even with its growth in unit sales, though, Samsung has seen its share drop from 19% to 11%.
The new second place vendor, Vivo, has more than doubled its share from 6% to 13%. Over the same period, Oppo dropped from 13% to 8%, but Honor rose from 6% to 9%.
"Apple and Huawei have been competing for the first and second spots for long," said Counterpoint's senior analyst Ivan Lam. "But now other major Chinese OEMs have started targeting the premium segment."
China Q2 smartphone sales fall 14.2% y/y as consumers pull back
SHANGHAI, July 27 (Reuters) - Chinese smartphone sales in April-June fell 14.2% on year and volumes hit a decade low, Counterpoint Research said on Wednesday, as China struggles to recover from the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and the industry braces for more uncertainty.
Quarterly sales volumes were 12.6% lower than those seen in the first quarter of 2020, when the pandemic hit China and sales were the worst since the fourth quarter of 2012, when the iPhone 5 was introduced, according to Counterpoint.
The research firm does not give unit sales estimates.
Consumers have tightened their belts and business activity has slowed amid China's pursuit of its "zero-COVID" strategy to stamp out infections. The commercial hub of Shanghai was locked down in April-May and strict pandemic curbs nationwide continue to weigh on consumer spending.
Sales for the top brands all shrank annually over the quarterly period, with the exception of Honor, which was formally spun out of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (HWT.UL) in 2021.
Honor's share of the market surged to 18.3% from 7.7%, making it the second-best selling player, behind vivo. Sales, meanwhile, more than doubled.
"Honor's coverage in lower-tier cities, which saw fewer lockdowns, helpd the brand steer through the turbulence in Q2 2022," said Mengmeng Zhang, research analyst at Counterpoint.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) ranked as the fourth top-selling brand, with a market share of 15%. The iPhone maker's quarterly sales volumes dropped 5.8%, a smaller blow compared with Oppo, Xiaomi (1810.HK), and vivo.
The Cupertino-based firm has seen comparatively stable sales in China in the past few years. Earlier this week, however, it announced discounts in China, a move it occasionally makes when sales are slow.
Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
iPhone took top slot in China in holiday quarter, with highest ever market share
The iPhone took the top slot in China during Q4, with Apple achieving its highest ever share of the smartphone market in the country – led by the iPhone 13.
Apple was previously in 4th place in the market share stakes, behind Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo …
Counterpoint says that Apple hit 23% market share in Q4 2021, compared to just 16% in the same quarter a year earlier. For the year as a whole, Apple rose one slot from 4th to 3rd place.
Apple surpassed vivo in Q4 2021 to become the #1 brand in China after six years, when the iPhone 6 supercycle was at its peak. Q4 2021 also brought Apple its highest ever market share in China at 23%, according to Counterpoint Research’s Monthly Market Pulse Service […] Research Analyst Mengmeng Zhang said, “Apple’s stellar performance was driven by a mix of its pricing strategy and gain from Huawei’s premium base. Apple rose to first place in China right after the iPhone 13 was released (week 39) in September. Afterwards, it remained in the leading position for most of the fourth quarter. The new iPhone 13 has led the success due to a relatively lower starting price at its release in China, as well as the new camera and 5G features. Furthermore, Huawei, Apple’s main competitor in the premium market, faced declining sales due to the ongoing US sanctions” […] Apple’s success in the premium segment is an encouraging sign and will continue to motivate Chinese OEMs to strengthen their footprints in the segment. We expect the smartphone average selling price to continue to rise in China as leading OEMs put more effort into increasing it to counter the decline in sales.
The Chinese smartphone market as a whole, however, continued to shrink.
China’s smartphone sales in Q4 2021 declined 2% QoQ and 9% YoY, respectively. The country’s full-year smartphone sales also continued the downward trend for the fourth consecutive year, declining 2% YoY in 2021.
There are several reasons for this: the component shortage; slowing design changes leading to people holding onto their phones for longer; and a sluggish domestic economy in China.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
Leave a Reply