Canalys: Huawei regains ground in China, but the market falls to historic lows

Canalys released a report on smartphone sales in China for the last quarter and the full calendar year 2023. According to the analysis, companies shipped 5% fewer devices compared to 2022, which was already the year worst in the last ten years.

The fourth quarter period showed signs of recovery with a decline of only 1%, or 73.9 million in total. Huawei was the “dark horse” as it emerged in fourth place and almost doubled its shipments compared to the same period last year.

The final quarter of the year, generally considered a holiday period in other regions, saw the launch of the iPhone 15 line, pushing Apple to the top for the first time. Demand for new iPhones was higher than last year, as the American company recorded 6% year-on-year growth.

The company managed to overtake local competitors for the top position for the full year 2023 with a slight increase of 1%. Vivo, Oppo, Honor and Xiaomi all saw a drop in shipments, allowing Apple to create a gap at the top.

Huawei’s resurgence into China’s Top 5 was primarily driven by the arrival of the Mate 60 Pro, powered by a domestically produced Kirin 9000S chipset.

Shipments were also boosted by “local consumer demand for software and hardware innovation,” even though the chip is built by SMIC on five-year-old 7nm process technology and is clearly slower than its 2020 predecessor.

The smartphone market is expected to enter a “moderate recovery” path in 2024, predicted Amber Liu, Research Manager at Canalys. Huawei will intensify competition in the market as all companies are investing heavily in generative AI services, hardware and infrastructure.