In the third quarter of 2022, the Chinese smartphone market shipped approximately 71.13 million units, down 11.9% year-on-year, according to data from IDC.
Although the decline narrowed for the first time this year, market demand continued to be sluggish following the first half of the year; thanks to the early release of Apple’s iPhone 14 series and the return of Huawei’s Mate 50 series, the domestic smartphone market achieved a quarter-on-quarter growth of 6.0% in the third quarter.
In the third quarter, Vivo returned to first place in China’s domestic smartphone market in terms of shipments, with a market share of 20.0%. The sub-brand iQOO has been continuously recognized by the market with its good product strength and competitive pricing, and its market share has continued to increase, reaching 4.6% of the domestic market in the third quarter.
The Vivo X series continued the excellent performance of the previous quarter and maintained its leadership in the mid-to-high-end market of US$400-600
Honor and Oppo’s shipments ranked 2nd and 3rd in Q3 2022 with 17.9% and 16.3% market share respectively..
Apple’s ranking rose one place, and its market share increased month-on-month to 15.1%, the only top smartphone vendor to maintain year-on-year growth. Although the two models of the iPhone 14 Pro are still very popular, the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Plus, which were only officially shipped in October, have limited appeal to consumers due to their small upgrades compared to the previous generation, while the iPhone 13 series is still favored.
Xiaomi smartphones shipped about 9 million units in the third quarter, accounting for 12.7% of the market.
In Q3 2022, China’s single-quarter shipments of foldable smartphones exceeded 1 million, a year-on-year increase of about 246%, the largest single-quarter shipment in history.
Strong brand and product power helped Huawei to remain in the first position in the domestic foldable screen smartphone market, with a market share of 44.9%.
Samsung’s two new products, Z Fold4 and Z Flip4, have significantly better sales than the previous generation, ranking second, accounting for 22.2% of the market share in the foldable smartphone segment.
The newly released X Fold+ series also helped Vivo to rise to third place in this market, with a market share of 11.9%. Xiaomi’s new MIX FOLD 2 has also won a better market reputation than the previous generation due to its thin and light appearance, and its market share has increased to 9.3%, ranking fourth.
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China smartphone market share in Q2 2022
In the second quarter of 2022, China’s smartphone shipment reached about 67.2 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 14.7%, according to data from IDC. In the first half of the year, the domestic smartphone shipment totaled about 140 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 14.4%.
Honor ranked first in domestic market shipments in the second quarter, and Vivo ranked second. In the first half of the year, the domestic shipments of foldable smartphones exceeded 1.1 million, with a year-on-year increase of about 70%.
China smartphone market share in Q1 2022; Apple has 16.7% share
In the first quarter of 2022, China’s smartphone market saw about 74.2 million units shipment, a year-on-year decrease of 14.1%, according to data from IDC.
The impact of the continuous rebound of the epidemic on consumers’ budgets and the small upgrading range of new products have led to the continuous downturn of market demand.
The more uncertain overseas market prospect has led many mobile phone manufacturers to adopt more stable and conservative operation strategies, and the market will face great challenges throughout the year.
Oppo ranked first in terms of domestic smartphone shipment market share in the first quarter, followed by Honor, with a very high year-on-year increase, Vivo in the third place, Apple in the fourth place, and Xiaomi in fifth place.
At the same time, the negative impact of the current domestic epidemic on the logistics and supply side of the mobile phone market is relatively controllable, which brings about the delay in meeting part of the demand.
If there is no additional positive stimulus, the capacity of China’s smartphone market may fall below the 300 million mark in 2022, according to IDC.
Vivo has the largest market share of 19.7% by total smartphone sales, according to Counterpoint, followed by Oppo (18%), apple (17.9%), Honor (16.9%), Xiaomi (14.9%), and Huawei (6.2%). In the first quarter, domestic mobile phone sales fell 14% year-on-year to 74.2 million.
Smartphone shipment in China up 1.1% in 2021; Apple has 15.3% share
In 2021, the total shipments of mobile phones in China’s domestic market totaled 351 million, a year-on-year increase of 13.9%, according to China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).
In 2021, the shipments of domestic brand mobile phones in China totaled 304 million, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%, accounting for 86.6% of the mobile phone shipments in the same period. In other words, nearly 87 people buy domestic mobile phones among every 100 people’s purchase.
In 2021, 5G mobile phones shipped 266 million units, with a year-on-year increase of 63.5%, accounting for 75.9% of mobile phone shipments in the same period. In November and December 2021, 5G mobile phones accounted for more than 80%.
In 2021, 329.3 million smartphones shipped in China, with a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 1.1%, according to IDC.
Throughout 2021, 404 new models of smartphones were listed, with a year-on-year increase of 11.0%, accounting for 83.6% of the number of new models listed in the same period. It can be seen that functional phones still have a huge audience.
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Apple and Vivo took the top spot in the last quarter of 2021 and the full year 2021, respectively. Honor continued its momentum in Q4 2021 and gained another spot from the previous quarter. More intense competition is coming in 2022 according to IDC.
In 2021, Apple’s smartphone shipment reached more than 50 million and it also had the largest growth among the top 5 vendors. Honor continued its growth in Q4 2021 with the launch of the Honor 60 series and X30 series in December.
Vivo ranked first in full-year 2021 and achieve a better market position in the >US$400 market and online channels.
Oppo ranked the second spot in 2021, with the K, Reno, and Find series achieving a higher share of its portfolio compared to last year. In Q4, the launch of the Reno 7 series also strengthened Oppo’s position in the US$300-500 price segment.
Xiaomi ranked third in 2021.
In 2021, the Chinese market shipped 1.5 million foldable smartphones with only 0.5% share.
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