In November 2020, due to US sanctions, Huawei was forced to sell the HONOR sub-brand to make it independent from the parent company and thus allow it to avoid the imposed restrictions. Just over a year later, HONOR unexpectedly led the smartphone market in China.
Canalys’ Q1 2022 report revealed that HONOR now accounts for 20% of the Chinese market. During this period, the company delivered a record 15 million smartphones to the domestic market. A year earlier, HONOR’s shipments were only 5 million. On an annualized basis, the company showed an increase of 205% (!), which allowed it to rise from the sixth line to the first in the list of the most popular smartphone manufacturers. Even though HONOR is legally a new company, in fact it is very closely related to Huawei.
As for the rest of the players in the Chinese smartphone market, there have also been reshuffles among them. For example, last year’s leader, Vivo lost the most on an annualized basis – 44% of its share. If a year earlier it delivered 21.6 million smartphones to the market, then in the first quarter of this year – only 12.2 million. Another major manufacturer, OPPO, lost 34%, but retained second place. Apple showed growth (+13%), managing to move up to third place. Analysts believe that the American company can break into the lead if it maintains the pace of deliveries. Xiaomi dropped to rank five (-22%).
Overall, the Chinese mainland smartphone market continued to lag behind the global market in the first quarter of 2022. Shipments fell 18% year on year to 75.6 million.
Source: Trash Box
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