Huawei once again led the China smartphone market with 45 per cent share in the third quarter as sales recovered slowly with 6 per cent growth in the country (quarter-on-quarter), according to a new Counterpoint Research report.

The growth, however, was still down 14 per cent year-on-year and the country was yet to recover to the pre-COVID level.

Various Huawei 5G smartphones, including the premium P40/P40 Pro 5G series, Mate 30 5G series and the affordable premium Nova 7 5G series, received positive market feedback to dominate China’s top 10 best-selling models list.

“However, attacked by the escalated US trade ban since mid-September, Huawei has suffered severe component shortage and its sales have started to decline,” said research analyst Mengmeng Zhang.

The iPhone 11, grabbing near 5 per cent market share, remained the best-selling smartphone model in China during the quarter.

Nevertheless, the overall sales volume of Apple dropped 7 per cent (YoY), impacted by the deferred debut of the iPhone 12 series.

“The domestic consumption in China remained weak despite the sequential perk-up, along with a worse unemployment rate. During the post-pandemic recovery period in Q3, the overall market demand in China remained stagnant despite smartphone OEMs’ efforts to stimulate sales,” explained research analyst Flora Tang.

Xiaomi’s share increased to 11 per cent in Q3, outperforming the market with 8 per cent (YoY) growth in sales volume.

Driven by the aggressive promotions during the OEM’s decennial celebrations in August, Xiaomi became the only major OEM that achieved positive YoY growth in the third quarter.

Sales of OPPO and vivo declined YoY but saw an increase from the last quarter, driven by the strong momentum of their new flagship series.

The OPPO Reno 4 5G emerged to become the only 5G model apart from Huawei’s to be presented in China’s top-selling smartphone models list.

Discussing the 5G smartphone segment in China, senior analyst Ethan Qi said: “From the start of the second half this year, Chinese OEMs have been active in launching price-for-value 5G smartphones in the sub-$300 price band”.

By the end of September, Chinese telecom operators had built 690,000 units of 5G base stations, fully covering the country’s prefecture-level cities.

Stimulated by efforts from these industrial players, 5G smartphone sales in China continued to surge, the report mentioned.