Amid stiff competition, Apple drops out of top 5 in smartphone sales in China

In the second quarter of 2024, Apple dropped out of the top five smartphone-sellers in China.

Chinese companies, on the back of their localised supply chains and competitive features, dominated the smartphone sales.

From 15 per cent in the first quarter, Apple’s market-share declined to 14 per cent in the second quarter, according to technology market analysis firm Canalys.

The report further said that in the second quarter last year, Apple had the market-share of 16 per cent and stood third in terms of smartphone sales.

Lucas Zhong, a research analyst at Canalys, told CNBC that it was the first quarter in history when all top five smartphone-sellers were Chinese.

Declining Chinese shipments, better Chinese companies

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Apple’s eviction from the top five smartphone sellers has come at a time when Apple shipments have been consistently falling in China.

As per CNBC, Apple’s shipments in China declined by 25 per cent year-on-year to 10 million units in the first quarter of 2024.

Zhong, the analyst at Canalys, was further quoted as saying that Apple is facing a “bottleneck” in the Chinese market as it aims to “stabilise retail prices and protect margins of channel partners".

At the same time, Apple is facing competition from Chinese companies which are capitalising on their deeply localised supply chains.

“Chinese vendors’ strategies for high-end products and their deep collaboration with local supply chains are starting to pay off in hardware and software features. Honor’s latest Magic V3, which leverages GenAI, has significantly enhanced the user experience of foldable devices,” said Zhong to CNBC.

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Vivo tops smartphone sales in China

Vivo was the top smartphone-seller in China in the second quarter with a market-share of 19 per cent, as per the Canalys report.

Oppo ranked second and Honor, a former subsidiary of Huawei, ranked third.

Huawei ranked fourth with 15 per cent market-share and Xiaomi came fifth.