Smartphone Market Landscape: Honor Takes the Lead, Huawei Rebounds

Smartphone Market Landscape: Honor Takes the Lead, Huawei Rebounds With smartphone innovation slowing down in recent years, global shipments have been declining steadily. Against this backdrop, smartphone vendors have been aggressively launching new products, seeking to gain market share in a sluggish market and achieve impressive results

Smartphone Market Landscape: Honor Takes the Lead, Huawei Rebounds

With smartphone innovation slowing down in recent years, global shipments have been declining steadily. Against this backdrop, smartphone vendors have been aggressively launching new products, seeking to gain market share in a sluggish market and achieve impressive results.

Market Share

According to market research firm BCI, the top three smartphone brands by activation volume in China for Q1 2024 were Honor, Huawei, and Apple. Notably:

• Honor's smartphone activation volume grew 12% year-over-year to 10.742 million units, with a market share of 15.8%, ranking first.

• Huawei's smartphone activation volume surged 81% year-over-year to 10.584 million units, with a market share of 15.5%, ranking second.

• Apple's smartphone activation volume declined year-over-year to 10.569 million units, with a market share of approximately 15.5%, ranking third.

Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.

Reasons for Honor's Dominance

Honor's ability to lead the market is primarily attributed to its consistent introduction of innovative products that cater to consumers' demand for new technologies and experiences. For example:

• Honor Magic6 Series: Equipped with a new screen light-gathering technology, delivering an industry-leading peak brightness of 5,000 nits.

• Qinghai Lake Battery 2.0: Incorporating the self-developed energy efficiency enhancement chip HONOR E1 and working in conjunction with the Honor Dujiangyan Power Management System, providing all-day battery life for consumers.

Huawei's Strong Recovery

Huawei's strong rebound in smartphone activation volume suggests that the company is gradually recovering from the impact of US sanctions. By partnering with Chinese suppliers, the company has secured its supply chain and launched competitive new products, including:

• Huawei Mate50 Series: Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 processor and Huawei's self-developed XMAGE imaging system, delivering exceptional camera experiences.

• Huawei Nova10 Series: Targeting the mid-range market, emphasizing fashionable design and photography capabilities.

Despite the ongoing downturn in the smartphone market, growth opportunities are still expected as new technologies emerge. Areas such as foldable displays, the metaverse, and artificial intelligence are likely to become the next wave of market growth drivers.