Smartphone sales in China fell by 22% year-over-year [YoY] and 24% quarter [QoQ] in the first quarter of 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, according to the latest data from Counterpoint Research.
The top five original equipment manufacturers — HOVX (Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi) and Apple —accounted for a record 93% of the market, up by six percentage points compared to last year. The market share of the leading manufacturer, Huawei, rose to near 40% during the COVID-19 crisis. Huawei was the only smartphone player that achieved positive YoY growth even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Apple and the Huawei group managed to increase market share from the same period last year, clearly out-performing the overall market in quarter one of 2020. Huawei smartphone sales achieved 6% YoY growth and sales of iPhones mildly dropped by 1% only, while their counterparts suffered plummeting sales with double-digit declines,” says Ethan Qi, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. “The Phone 11 was the best-selling smartphone model in Q1; it has topped China’s best-selling models list for seven consecutive months. Consumers continued to purchase iPhones from e-commerce platforms despite the shutdown of Apple stores across China during February.”
