China’s smartphone market is on track to record its first annual sales growth in five years, according to Counterpoint Research, which placed Apple out of the top-five domestic rankings in the third quarter.
Sales in the world’s largest smartphone market rose 2.3 per cent year on year in the September quarter, marking four consecutive quarters of growth that reinforce projections of a low single-digit increase in 2024, according to a Counterpoint report on Monday.
Chinese smartphone vendors Vivo, Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi, Honor and Oppo occupied the top-five domestic rankings, as Apple took the No 6 spot with a 13.5 per cent market share last quarter.
That finding runs counter to last week’s report by research firm IDC, which saw Apple back at the No 2 spot in third-quarter domestic smartphone shipment rankings behind Vivo and ahead of Huawei, Xiaomi and Honor. Apple fell out of the top five in the second quarter, according to IDC data.
Improved domestic consumption is expected to heat up competition among major smartphone vendors this fourth quarter, boosted by Singles’ Day-related promotions and the introduction of artificial intelligence features in the latest 5G handset models.