Huawei's mobile phone comeback: After 13 quarters, China's market share has returned to the first place

Titanium Media APP

2024-04-30 07:00Published on the official account of Beijing Titanium Media APP

The speed at which Huawei's mobile phones returned to the market exceeded market expectations.

According to a report released by market analyst Canalys, in the first quarter of 2024, the smartphone market in Chinese mainland will recover for the first time in two years, with shipments unchanged from the same period last year, reaching 67.7 million units. Among them, Huawei has experienced 13 quarters to regain the first place in the Chinese mainland market, with 11.7 million units shipped and a market share of 17% thanks to the enthusiastic market response of the Mate and nova series.

MWC Huawei booth, taken by Titanium Media APP

"The growth rate of the Chinese market at the beginning of the year was still slower than the global recovery rate of 11%, giving Huawei room to seize market share and quickly regain the crown. The production and supply shortages of the Mate 60 series gradually improved in the first quarter, which was an important factor driving Huawei's overall growth. Zhu Jiatao, a senior analyst at Canalys, said.

And 13 quarters ago, Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei Device BG, said, "This fall, Huawei will release a new generation of flagship mobile phone Mate 40, equipped with Huawei's own research and development of Kirin 9000 chip, but this may be the last generation of Kirin high-end chips." ”

According to the global smartphone shipment data released by IDC, Huawei's smartphone shipments in 2020 were 189 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 21.5%, ranking third, down one place from the previous year. In the second quarter of that year, Huawei's smartphone shipments surpassed Samsung, becoming the world's highest-selling mobile phone brand for the first time.

Mate 60, the battle to turn around

On September 1, 2023, Huawei started the pre-sale of the Mate 60 Pro without any official warm-up. The pre-sale is divided into two channels, online by HUAWEI Mall to accept flash purchase pre-orders, offline is only available in a few stores in Shenzhen.

According to public statistics, on September 1, Huawei Mate 60 Pro sold a total of about 800,000 units online and offline, setting a number of new historical records for Huawei mobile phones.

The popularity of the Mate 60 series has directly boosted the market share of Huawei mobile phones in China. According to IDC's quarterly mobile phone tracker, Huawei ranked fourth in China's smartphone market shipments in the fourth quarter of 2023 with a market share of 13.9%, up 36.2% year-on-year from 10.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

In the quarter, Apple remained the largest manufacturer in China's smartphone market by shipment, with a market share of 17.3%. IDC analysis said that although Apple was obviously hit by competing products in the domestic high-end market, coupled with the limited range of its own product upgrades, resulting in a decline in attractiveness, it still attracted more consumers driven by the relatively large price reduction promotion of third-party channels.

However, after entering 2024, the market is starting to change significantly.

Apple's smartphone sales in China fell sharply in the first six weeks of 2024 due to fierce competition and price pressures. Apple's iPhone sales fell 24 percent year-on-year, dropping its market share in China to fourth place, according to research firm Counterpoint.

In the same time period, Huawei's sales increased by 64% year-on-year, mainly driven by demand for the Mate 60 series phones. Huawei ranked second with a market share of 17%, with a year-on-year increase of nearly 100%. Analysts believe that due to the lack of prominent features in the new iPhones models, it seems that consumers will keep the old models for longer before switching to the new ones.

Until the end of the first quarter, Apple's sales decline has not stopped. Among the top five mobile phone manufacturers in China, Apple fell the most, ranking fifth with 10 million units shipped, down 25% year-on-year. Huawei, on the other hand, has become the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the Chinese market with a year-on-year growth of 70%.

Apple down, Huawei up

If the Mate 60 series has successfully started Huawei's turnaround, then the new Pura series will most likely continue to expand Huawei's appeal in the Chinese market.

According to data obtained by Titanium Media APP from the TechInsights smartphone market research team, the Mate 60 Pro series (including the Mate 60 Pro, Mate 60, Mate 60 Pro+, and Mate 60 RS Ultimate) shipped 6.2 million units in China in five months (August to December 2023).

While the Pura 70 series has an earlier release window and eased supply constraints, TechInsights expects it to ship more than 10 million units in 2024, making it one of Apple's main competitors to the iPhone 15 and 16 series.

Huawei P-series and Pura 70 shipments (million units)

"According to my latest supply chain survey, Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipment estimate for key upstream semiconductor components to about 200 million units (down 15% from 2023). Among the world's major mobile phone brands in 2024, Apple may be the one with the biggest decline. ”

Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at Tianfeng International Securities, previously said that shipments of the iPhone 15 series and the new iPhone 16 series are expected to decline by 10–15% year-on-year in the first and second half of 2024, respectively. iPhone shipments will decline significantly in 2024 due to structural challenges, and the main reason for the decline in the Chinese market is the return of Huawei and folding phones are gradually becoming the first choice for high-end users.

Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that Apple will not launch a new iPhone model with a large design change and release a more comprehensive and differentiated generative AI ecosystem and applications until 2025 at the earliest. Until then, the above-mentioned structural challenges may continue to be detrimental to Apple's iPhone shipment momentum and ecosystem growth.

TechInsights predicts that Huawei's smartphone shipments in China will exceed 50 million units in 2024, and its market share will increase significantly from 12% in 2023 to 19% in 2024, and regain the top spot in the Chinese market (annual sales).

"While we don't expect the Pura 70 series to be launched in overseas markets this year, the resilience of the Chinese market will help Huawei climb to the world's eighth-largest smartphone maker with a 5% market share. According to TechInsights, Huawei's strong rebound in China's smartphone market will put pressure on Apple's iPhone. In Q1 2024, Apple's iPhone saw a double-digit year-on-year decline in China's smartphone market. The launch of the Pura 70 series will intensify the competition between Apple and Huawei in China, the world's largest smartphone market. (This article was first published in the Titanium Media APP, by |.) Rao Xiangyu Ed. | Zhong Yi)

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