Apple’s market share fell in the Chinese market, according to a number of reports on local smartphone shipments. IDC and Canalys both confirmed that vivo was the best-selling company in Q3 2024, with Huawei and Xiaomi also seeing huge increases in shipments, while their US rival failed to match results from 12 months ago.
Smartphone shipments in China during Q3 2024 according to IDC & Canalys
Although different analysts take different approaches to collecting their data, the overall picture clearly shows that the market in China is tightening. The difference between first and fifth place is only 5pp.
IDC: Foldable smartphone shipments in total volume and market share
Between July and September 2024, vivo continued to cover multiple price points to appeal to many consumers. We also had Apple with its latest iPhones; Huawei relied on the patriotic note because there are restrictions due to US sanctions. Xiaomi sold phones at a lower price and lower margin, while Honor launched the foldable Magic Flip and Magic V3.
IDC: Smartphone market share by price category
IDC revealed that shipments of phones above (the equivalent of) $600 grew to almost 30%, while the share of premium devices ($400-$600) fell to 6.6%. This includes foldable smartphones, whose shipments grew 13.6% year over year.
Canalys: Market performance in mainland China during the third quarter of 2024
In terms of foldable products, Huawei remains the undisputed leader with 41% of all sales in the third quarter, followed by Honor with a market share of 21.9%. Xiaomi, Samsung and vivo completed the Top 5.