Apple's market share in China decreased by two percentage points during the second quarter of 2024, as reported by market research firm Canalys. This decline reflects the challenges faced by the U.S. tech giant in its third-largest market, amidst fierce competition from competitors such as Huawei. Huawei's smartphone shipments experienced a significant 41% year-on-year increase in the quarter, driven by the April launch of its new Pura 70 series.
Although Canalys did not disclose specific shipment figures for Apple, it indicated that the company's market share in China fell to 14% in the second quarter of 2024, down from 16% in the same period in 2023. Consequently, Apple's position in the Chinese smartphone market slipped from third to sixth place. Conversely, China's overall smartphone shipments grew by 10% in the quarter, with Vivo leading the market at 19%, followed by Oppo, Honor, and Huawei, each holding 16%, 15%, and 15% respectively.
Lucas Zhong, a research analyst at Canalys, noted that domestic manufacturers have achieved historic market dominance by securing the top five spots in mainland China for the first time. Meanwhile, Apple is under pressure to grow in the Chinese market and is focusing on optimizing channel management. Huawei re-entered the high-end smartphone segment in August of the previous year with a device featuring a domestically-made chip, overcoming U.S. sanctions that had restricted its access to the global chipset supply chain.
To stimulate sales, Apple has intensified its discounting strategies this year, launching an aggressive promotion in May that doubled the scale of a previous offer in February, with price reductions of up to 2,300 yuan ($318.84) on selected iPhone models. Analysts predict that Huawei's robust performance will persist throughout the year. TechInsights, a Canadian research firm, forecasted earlier this year that Huawei's total smartphone shipments in China will surpass 50 million units in 2024, with the Pura 70 series contributing 10 million of those shipments. This would elevate Huawei to the top spot with a 19% market share, up from 12% in 2023.
