INDUSTRY BRIEF: Huawei loses China smartphone crown in third quarter

A slumping Huawei lost its crown as the top brand in its home China market during the third quarter, as a resurgent Apple (AAPL.US) rose in the rankings on popularity of its iPhone 17, according to data released by IDC on Wednesday. Smartphone shipments for the overall China market, the world’s largest, fell 0.6% year-on-year to 68.4 million units in the three months to September, according to IDC.

Huawei’s share of the market fell from 18.1% in the second quarter to 15.2% in the third, dropping it from first place to third over that time. Rival Vivo took the top spot as its market share remained unchanged at 17.3% in both the second and third quarters. Apple was one of the few companies to pick up share during the period, rising 1.9 percentage points to take 15.8% of the market in latest quarter. That made Apple China’s second-largest smartphone brand during the latest period, up from fifth in the previous quarter.

Rounding out the top six were Xiaomi (1810.HK) with 10% of the market in the third quarter, Oppo at 9.9% and Honor at 9.8%. Of the six top brands, only Apple and Oppo recorded year-over-year sales gains in the latest quarter.

By Doug Young

To subscribe to Bamboo Works free weekly newsletter, click here