China smartphone market declines 11% in 2020 with 330 million units shipment: Canalys

On January 29, Canalys released a research report on China smartphone market for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020. According to the report, China’s smartphone market closed with 84 million unit shipments in Q4 of 2020 with a decline of 4% year-on-year (YoY).

Talking about a whole year, 330 million units were shipped, which has a decline of 11%. The main reason behind the loss of the market is the pandemic and the US sanctions on Huawei by which the performance was rapidly declined as well as the overall market recovery was stalled.

However, Huawei leads the ranking list with 18.8 million shipments with a decline of 41% from 22% in Q4 of 2020. Oppo secures second place, shipping 17.2 million with growing 23% YoY. Vivo also showed strong year-on-year growth at 20% and came in third at 15.7 million units.

Apple also reported its best performance in China in recent years, shipping more than 15.3 million units in Q4, with an 18% market share, up from 15% in Q4 2019. Xiaomi completed the top five, shipping 12.2 million units, growing 52% year-on-year.

“It is possibly Huawei’s toughest time as it is restrained to even serve its home market,” says Canalys VP of Mobility Nicole Peng. 

Moreover, Huawei’s sell-in shipments shrunk by nearly half sequentially, despite the huge demand for Huawei devices, as the vendor is unable to fulfill this demand in the foreseeable future.

Other smartphone brands including Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi trying to grab this opportunity by fighting to win over Huawei’s offline channel partners across the country, including small rural ones, backed by huge investments in store expansion and marketing support.

These commitments brought immediate results, and market share improved within mere months. 2021 will be clearly a year of aggressive expansion for Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi.

“Honor is also a player we shouldn’t ignore in China in 2021, as the vendor has inherited most of Huawei’s strengths and aims to win over Huawei’s loyal customers,” Peng

(Source- Canalys)