China Business Daily (Reporter Zhao Yiru) In the first quarter of 2024, China's smartphone market ranking was released, but the ranking results of different research institutions are different for who is the first in the market: Canalys data shows that Huawei ranks first in the domestic market in terms of shipments, IDC data shows that Honor and Huawei are tied for the first place in China's smartphone market, and Counterpoint data shows that vivo is the first in domestic sales. The competition among mobile phone manufacturers has further intensified, and the share gap is gradually narrowing.
Who is number one in the market
The ranking of China's smartphone market share in the first quarter of 2024 has been released.
According to Canalys, an independent analyst of the technology market, in the first quarter of 2024, Huawei ranked first in China's smartphone market with a market share of 17%, with shipments of 11.7 million units, which is also Huawei's regain of the first position in the Chinese mainland market after 13 quarters. OPPO ranked second with a 16% market share with 10.9 million units shipped, Honor ranked third with a 16% market share with 10.6 million units shipped, and Vivo and Apple ranked fourth and fifth with 10.3 million and 10 million units shipped, respectively, with a 15% market share.
Data published by Canalys. (Picture from Canalys' official WeChat public account)
However, different research institutions have different statistics and rankings on the shipments or sales volume of mobile phone manufacturers.
According to the statistics of the International Data Corporation (IDC), in the first quarter of 2024, Honor will have a 17.1% share of shipments in China's smartphone market, and Huawei's market share will be 17.0%, both of which will be tied for first place with a slight market share gap, OPPO will have a market share of 15.7%, Apple's market share will be 15.6%, and they will be tied for third place in the domestic market, and vivo will rank fifth with a market share of 14.6%.
Data published by IDC. (The picture comes from IDC's official WeChat public account)
In the first quarter of 2024, vivo ranked first in China's smartphone market with a market share of 17.4%, Honor and Apple ranked second and third with a market share of 16.1% and 15.7%, respectively, and Huawei and OPPO ranked fourth and fifth with a market share of 15.5% and 15.3%, respectively.
Data published by Counterpoint. (Image from Counterpoint's official WeChat account)
In view of the different statistical ranking results between different institutions, the reporter of China Business Daily learned from industry insiders that the indicator of Counterpoint statistics is sales, which refers to the volume of retail terminals, and the indicators of IDC and Canalys statistics are shipments, that is, the amount of shipments from the factory, and also refers to the volume of the highest level of agents. And there will be some ranking differences in the same shipments, because each research institution uses different data channels and resources, and there will be errors in the statistics.
The gap in the share of leading manufacturers is gradually narrowing
Liu Yixuan, research manager at Canalys, said: "Despite Huawei's strong start to the year, we maintain a moderate recovery of 1% in 2024. Looking ahead to 2024, the focus of industry discussions is on increased competition and building moats through innovation. In the past year, market competition has become more and more stale, and the share gap between manufacturers has gradually narrowed. This means that exploring growth opportunities across different channels is critical to capitalizing on short-term opportunities. This will greatly test the manufacturer's ability in multi-channel management, price control and inventory management. ”
IDC said that Huawei has recovered rapidly since its return at the end of August last year, and in the first quarter of this year, it has tied for the first place in the Chinese market, with a year-on-year increase of more than 100%. The Mate 60 series continues to be in short supply, and the nova 12 series accounts for one-third of Huawei's quarterly shipments. But supply issues remain a key factor limiting Huawei's shipments. The Pura 70 series is expected to help Huawei's shipments continue to increase rapidly.
IDC believes that Honor's market share in China in the first quarter of 2024 will be 17.1%, and shipments will increase by 13.2% year-on-year. The first quarter shipments of the Magic 6 series exceeded the combined shipments of the previous two quarters of the previous generation.
At the same time, IDC also said that Apple tied for third place in the domestic market in the first quarter, with shipments down 6.6% year-on-year. Although Apple continues to adjust prices and promotions, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the best-selling model during the Chinese New Year, Apple is facing increasing challenges and pressure from its competitors, and it is urgent to attract consumers through all-round software and hardware upgrades and innovations.
IDC data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, China's smartphone market shipped about 69.26 million units, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. Similar to the global market situation, the continued recovery in market demand has helped China's smartphone market continue the rebound momentum at the end of last year, and the market performance has been higher than expected. The gap in market share between the leading manufacturers has further narrowed, and the market competition has become more and more intense.