Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL; DR
Honor is now the third largest smartphone maker in China, vastly surpassing its former owner Huawei. Vivo and Oppo continue to outsell their competitors in the country, maintaining a combined market share of 44%. Apple grew 62% year-over-year in the country.
It has been almost a year since Huawei parted ways with Honor as an independent company. But while the former has failed in every region since then, Honor has been on an upward trajectory, especially in its local market.
According to data from research firm Canalys, Honor is now the third-largest smartphone maker in China, ahead of Apple, Xiaomi, and its former owner.
Honor shipped 14.2 million devices in the third quarter of 2021, a 25% year-over-year increase and a 105% increase from the previous quarter. The company now has 18% of the market share in China. Canalys attributed Honor’s growth to legacy Huawei users upgrading to new Honor devices. The research firm also highlighted Honor’s mid-range success with the Play 20 and X20 and Honor 50 series. As the latter was recently launched in Europe, we’ll have to wait and see if it finds similar success in Western markets as well.
China’s top smartphone manufacturers
Looking at the bigger picture, two BBK brands led the Chinese smartphone market in Q3 2021. Vivo topped the list, shipping 18.3 million devices this quarter to claim a 23% market share. That’s a general annual growth figure of 19%. Oppo, which now includes OnePlus shipments, came in second with 16.5 million units and a 21% market share.
Xiaomi gave up fourth place behind Honor, shipping 10.9 million units with a meager 4% annual growth. It was the worst performing OEM in the top five in China.
Finally, Apple’s strong global growth was also reflected in the China market. The company experienced 62% annual growth in the region, shipping 8.3 million units in the third quarter of 2021.
If you’re wondering where Huawei ranks, the company didn’t make the top five in its local market, but it still shipped around five million units in the quarter.
–
