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New figures from Counterpoint Research say that Apple was the number one smartphone reseller in China both in the latest Q4 2023 figures, and across the whole of 2023.
“China’s smartphone sales bottomed out in Q4 2023, increasing 6.6% YoY to mark the first quarterly YoY growth after 10 consecutive quarters of YoY declines,” said the research firm. “Huawei’s comeback with its own 5G chipsets continued to attract consumers, while Xiaomi and HONOR sustained strong performance with double-digit growth.”
Despite the renewed interest in local smartphone manufacturers, though, Apple beat them both to take the top spot. “Apple’s sales dropped 9.0% YoY in Q4 while Huawei’s sales rose 71.1% driven by its 5G chipset,” said Counterpoint.
“Apple ranked first with 17.9% share, followed by vivo (16.9%) and OPPO (16.2%),” it continued. “However, from an annual perspective, China’s smartphone sales still declined 1.4% YoY, compared to a 13.9% YoY decline in 2022.”
For 2024, Counterpoint predicts “low single-digit YoY [Year over Year] growth for China’s smartphone market, bringing it back to growth after five years.”
