Huawei leads China smartphone market with 42% share: Canalys Report

The China (mainland) smartphone market improved sequentially in Q3 2019 as shipments reached 97.8 million, up from 97.6 million units in the previous quarter.

Huawei's first global flagship store is pictured in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China October 30, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song (REUTERS)

Chinese technology giant Huawei managed to grab top market share from among its major competitors in its home turf to reach a total of 42 per cent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, thanks to an annual shipments growth of 66 per cent, according to a report released by Canalys on Wednesday.

The China (mainland) smartphone market improved sequentially in Q3 2019 as shipments reached 97.8 million, up from 97.6 million units in the previous quarter.

'Huawei opened a huge gap between itself and other vendors. Its dominant position gives Huawei a lot of power to negotiate with the supply chain and to increase its wallet share within channel partners,' Canalys Vice President (Mobility) Nicole Peng said in a statement.

The smartphone maker's growth came at the expense of main rivals Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and Apple, which together accounted for 50 per cent of the market in Q3, down from 64 per cent a year earlier.

'Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi's shipments are in freefall, despite new products constantly being pushed to market,' said Louis Liu, Researcher at Canalys.

The reason is these handset makers are yet to release 5G smartphones and have been pushing aggressively with pre-registrations for upcoming 5G-enabled devices, including a discount with free data.

The non-Chinese brand in the top 5 was Apple, which could secure the spot due to the launch of the iPhone 11 lineup at the end of the quarter.

Since the iPhone maker has no plans for a 5G smartphone until the next September, it can quickly fall out of top 5 and can fall into the 'others' group by the time the 2020 iPhones come.