This morning a Bloomberg report claimed that Apple iPhone shipments in China had reportedly declined by 19% for Calendar Q1-24, marking it the worst performance in the region since the onset of Covid around 2020. Bloomberg was quoting Counterpoint statistics that hadn't been published at the time of the Bloomberg report. Later this morning, Counterpoint released their report on China's smartphone shipments.  

Counterpoint reports that China’s smartphone sales grew 1.5% YoY in Q1 2024, marking the second consecutive quarter of positive YoY growth, according to Counterpoint’s Market Pulse Service.

Huawei stood out as the best performer among all OEMs during Q1, growing 69.7% YoY. Huawei’s growth was largely attributed to the successful launch of the 5G-capable Mate 60 series  that helped it to gain a massive share in the $600+ premium segment which is Apple's stronghold. Huawei rise of 69.7% for the quarter led it to fourth spot with 15.5% market share while Apple was in third spot with 15.7%. Honor reportedly edged out Apple for second spot with 16.1%. 

(Click on Chart to Enlarge)

Commenting on OEM performance, Senior Research Analyst Ivan Lam said, “vivo gained the top spot this quarter with 17.4% share driven by strong sales of the Y35 Plus and Y36 models in the low-end segment and the S18 in the mid-end segment. HONOR ranked second with a 16.1% share, followed by Apple with a 15.7% share. Apple’s sales were subdued during the quarter as Huawei’s comeback has directly impacted Apple in the premium segment. Besides, the replacement demand for Apple has been slightly subdued compared to previous years.” Counterpoint.

With the statistics from Oppo, Huawei, Apple and Honor being so closely calculated, it will take statistical reports from Canalys, TrendForce and/or IDC to actually verify the rankings as presented by Counterpoint.