Huawei recorded the best cargo quantity in China’s smartphone market on an annual foundation final yr, returning to the highest place for the primary time in 5 years. This marks the primary time since 2020 that the corporate has overtaken Apple to reclaim the annual management place.
Based on market analysis agency IDC on January. 15, Huawei shipped a complete of 46.7 million smartphones within the Chinese language market in 2025, recording a 16.4% market share. Whereas this represents a 1.9% lower in comparison with the earlier yr’s 47.6 million items (16.6% market share), it secured first place by overtaking Apple (16.2%) with a 0.2 share level margin.
Huawei skilled a pointy decline in market share after 2021, going through difficulties in 5G know-how and semiconductor procurement as a consequence of U.S. sanctions stemming from U.S.-China commerce conflicts.
Nonetheless, the corporate compensated for comparatively lagging course of know-how by semiconductor design and software program optimization, resulting in efficiency enhancements in its independently developed Kirin 9030 chipset. The evaluation means that premium methods together with new product traces such because the Nova sequence, Pura 80 sequence, and Mate 80 sequence proved efficient.
Even after U.S. sanctions, Huawei has been constructing an unbiased ecosystem by increasing cooperation with home semiconductor firm SMIC. Will Wong, senior analysis analyst at IDC, evaluated that “Huawei’s enchancment in in-house chip manufacturing performed a key position within the 2025 market competitors.”
Apple shipped 46.2 million items in China, recording a 16.2% market share for second place. This represents a 4% development in comparison with the earlier yr. Whereas the corporate achieved first place with a 21% market share within the fourth quarter of 2025 on a single-quarter foundation, pushed by strong demand for the iPhone 17 sequence, it remained in second place when it comes to complete annual shipments, narrowly trailing behind Huawei.
Vivo (46.1 million items, 16.2%), Xiaomi (43.8 million items, 15.4%), and OPPO (43.4 million items, 15.2%) ranked third by fifth, respectively. Vivo decreased by 6.6% in comparison with the earlier yr, whereas Xiaomi and OPPO confirmed development charges of 4.3% and a couple of.1%, respectively. Honor was pushed out of the highest 5.
