Huawei, Apple Dominated China's Smartphone Market in Second Quarter
By Tracy Qu
Huawei Technologies and Apple dominated the Chinese smartphone market in the second quarter, capturing the largest market share as the industry grapples with rising memory costs.
Data released by research firm IDC on Tuesday showed that China's smartphone shipments came in at roughly 66 million units during the quarter, down 4.3% year-over-year and marking a fifth consecutive quarter of decline.
Huawei's shipments rose nearly 20% year-over-year, while Apple's shipments grew 25%, according to the IDC data.
Upgrade demand cooled as rising memory and component costs pushed most Android vendors to raise prices, but Huawei and Apple remained exceptions.
"Huawei and Apple held their prices steady while competitors were raising theirs, and that gave hesitant buyers a reason to go ahead and purchase in a quarter when most of the market was giving them a reason to wait," said Arthur Guo, a research analyst for IDC China's client devices research.
Looking ahead, the report suggests the market will continue to face headwinds into 2027 due to persistent storage pricing.
A recovery is likely around 2028-2029, when a new replacement cycle is projected to begin, IDC said.
Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 14, 2026 01:29 ET (05:29 GMT)
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