Apple (AAPL) led China’s smartphone market in the fourth quarter with a 21.8% share, driven by strong traction for the iPhone 17 series and an accelerated supply ramp, according to Counterpoint Research.
In the fourth quarter, Apple’s shipments rose 28% year-over-year. The Pro series and the base variants all saw a strong market response but sales for the iPhone Air, which saw a delayed launch in China, came in at a low single-digit share, the firm noted.
“The late launch and trade-offs between thinness and the feature set resulted in a slow start for the iPhone Air. But it’s a significant product, not only as an exploration into ultra-thin design, but also when considering the longer-term structural implications for the domestic market for eSIM smartphones,” said senior analyst Ivan Lam.
Oppo moved up to second place with a 15.8% share in the fourth quarter with nearly 15% year-over-year growth driven by sustained strong demand for the Reno series, alongside incremental volumes contributed by the newly launched Find X9 and OnePlus 15 series, according to the research firm.
Vivo took the third spot with a 15.7% share, but saw a 12.9% decline year-over-year. Similarly, smartphone shipments from Huawei Technologies fell 13.7% year-over-year to take the fourth place with 14.6% share in the fourth quarter.
The firm noted that despite year-over-year declines in the fourth quarter, vivo, Xiaomi (XIACF) (XIACY) and HONOR showed some positive highlights.
For the full year 2025, Huawei ranked first in the Chinese market despite experiencing a year-over-year decline in the second half of the year.
The company had a 16.9% share in China’s smartphone market in 2025, with a 1.7% growth compared to 2024.
Apple came in second, with a 16.7% share in 2025, seeing a 7.5% growth versus 2024.
Vivo took the third place with a 16.4% share but saw a 6.7% decline compared to 2024.
Overall, China’s smartphone shipments fell 1.6% year-over-year in the fourth quarter and 0.6% year-over-year for the full year 2025. Apart from the first quarter, when government subsidies provided a temporary uplift, shipments in all other quarters of 2025 recorded year-over-year contractions, the report noted.
Outlook
Counterpoint noted that memory prices are expected to rise further, by 40% to 50% in the first quarter of 2026, followed by an additional increase of around 20% in the second quarter of 2026.
Amid rising memory costs, smartphone original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, are expected to optimize their product portfolios, with a particular focus on scaling back low-end models to preserve margins, the firm added.
The new round of national subsidies has partially alleviated cost pressures across the industry. However, Counterpoint remains cautious on the overall smartphone market outlook for this year.