Huawei Takes Dominance in China with a 42% Market Share

Local Market data shows that Huawei Technologies grasped a record of 42% of China’s smartphone market in the third quarter as local consumers rallied behind it after the United States sanctions. This is according to a report released by from research firm Canalys released on Wednesday.

The figures from Canalys also suggest that Huawei grew its smartphone sales in China by 66% year-on-year (YoY) for Q3 2019, compared to the 31% growth it reportedly enjoyed for the previous quarter.

Coming second place for the July-September period of 2019 was Vivo with 17.9%, followed by fellow BBK brand Oppo with 17.4%. Xiaomi and Apple completed the Top 5, while other brands saw 31% decline in sales on an yearly basis.

Nicole Peng, the Vice President of mobility at Canalys says that the July-September quarter marked the iPhone’s weakest sales in China in five years.

The giant tech in China was banned by the United Stes in May from conducting its businesses with American companies, which significantly injured its ability to source key parts.

Huawei was then granted an amnesty until November but the blacklisting pushed up patriotic purchases of its smartphones in China, thus aiding it more than offsets a shipments slump in the world market.

Nicole Peng also says that the dominant position of Huawei gives the creator a lot of control in negotiating with the supply chain and increase its presence among retailers

Huawei’s advantage is expected to grow because of the expected roll-out of the super-fast 5G network in China in the in coming months.

“Huawei is in a strong position to consolidate its dominance further amid 5G network rollout, given its tight operator relationships in 5G network deployment, and control over key components such as local network compatible 5G chipsets.This puts significant pressure on Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi, which find it very hard to make any breakthrough.” Peng reported.

The market share of Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Apple dropped largely from 64%, a year earlier,to 50%.

Apple is the only non-Chinese brand in the top 5 and this is due to the launch of the iPhone 11 lineup that was done at the end of the quarter year. the latest Apple phone is said to satisfy the Chinese desire for camera improvements. They were also able to get the iPhone at an attractive price thanks to a more flexible channel margin structure for local distribution.