Apple grows alone in the Chinese smartphone market…’iPhone 12′ passed

Input 2021.02.02 16:23 | Revision 2021.02.02 16:24

2020 Chinese smartphone market 17% year-on-year↓
5G smartphones are on the rise, increasing to 60% of 5G smartphones in the fourth quarter

Last year, Apple was the only major company in the Chinese smartphone market to grow year-on-year. The iPhone 12 series, the first 5G smartphone, was introduced at various price points and received a good response in the market.

According to the’Monthly Report Market Pulse’ recently released by market research firm Counterpoint Research on the 2nd, Apple rose 5 percentage points year-on-year in China last year, raising its Chinese market share to 16% in the fourth quarter.

On the other hand, during the same period, Huawei (-3%), Vivo (-22%), Oppo (-26%), and Xiaomi (-15%) recorded negative growth.

Flora Tang, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, “Huawei’s Honor held a 41% market share in the Chinese smartphone market in 2020, maintaining the lead.” Sales volume decreased by 26% compared to the same period last year, and the market share also fell to 32%.”

Although Xiaomi’s annual sales declined 15% year-on-year, it was still strong in the market.

The sales of the Xiaomi 10 Series, Redmi 9A, and Redmi Note 9 Pro began to rebound sharply from the second half of the year. In particular, the company’s main rival, Honor, earned a reflective profit.

The sales volume of Oppo and Vivo also declined due to the overall market downturn, but the 4th quarter grew 9% QoQ as the Oppo A32, A72, and Lenovo 5 Series were greatly successful. The Lenovo 5 series sold nearly 1 million units in 12 days after the rebranding, and it is analyzed that Oppo’s mid-to-mid price product strategy is paying off.

The overall smartphone market in China decreased by 17 percentage points from the previous year due to the corona 19 effect. This is the biggest decline in the last three years.

Counterpoint Research analyzed that “the Chinese market quickly recovered from Corona 19, but overall demand declined compared to before Corona 19, due to the economic recession and increasing smartphone replacement time.”

However, despite the slump in the smartphone market, the 5G smartphone market has grown as companies actively engaged in marketing. The share of the 5G market from 5% in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased to 60% in the fourth quarter of 2020.