The Chinese smartphone market is the largest in the world and also the most competitive. This market is so lucrative that no manufacturer has a firm hold on this market. However, as competitive as the market is, even minor manufacturers are not backing out. Furthermore, the economic uncertainty, shortage of parts, and extension of replacement cycles continue to pose challenges to the market. Today, Strategy Analytics released its assessment of the Chinese smartphone market in Q3 2021. According to its assessment, smartphone shipments in the Chinese market will be 80.1 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 4%. Chinese manufacturer, Vivo, tops the Chinese smartphone market in Q3 2021.
Vivo smartphone shipments hit 18 million units, an increase of 21% year-on-year. Oppo (including OnePlus) follows closely with shipments of 17 million units, a year-on-year increase of 15%. Oppo slowed down its release cycle in Q3 of 2021 and deepened its integration with OnePlus, especially in terms of ColorOS.
Honor ranks third
Interestingly, Honor ranks third in the Chinese smartphone market for Q3 2021. The company shipped 14 million smartphones in the quarter, an increase of 109% year-on-year. Looking at the performance of Honor, it is showing a strong rebound in the Chinese smartphone market. It appears that Huawei users are now turning to Honor devices. With the improvement of chip component supply and the strengthening of the product portfolio, Honor is grabbing market share from other Android manufacturers.
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Xiaomi and Apple rank fourth and fifth with shipments of 11 million units and 10 million units, respectively. Xiaomi’s shipments fell by 2% year-on-year due to increased competition in the Chinese market. Apple’s new models are very popular among Chinese consumers, but they are suffering from a shortage of components.
In Q3 of 2021, the top five mobile phone manufacturers accounts for 86% of China’s smartphone market share, up from 85% a year ago. Strategy Analytics expects that this ratio will continue to grow in the next few quarters as competition further intensifies.
Huawei was the top smartphone manufacturer in China for many years. However, due to the sanctions on the company by the U.S., the company is now nowhere in the top five list. As of the second quarter of last year, Huawei had over 30% in the Chinese smartphone market. However, just a year later, the company has only about 8%.
Counterpoint Technology Market Research also reported a significant shift in power in China’s smartphone market. Its report also shows that Vivo is tops with total shipments of about 18.3 million smartphones against 14.1 million a year earlier.
