Huawei leads Chinese smartphone sales in second quarter, while Xiaomi has a tougher time

Huawei Technologies continued to lead China’s smartphone market in the latest quarter, while Xiaomi – which raised nearly US$5 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong earlier this month – was the worst performer among top Chinese vendors, according to a report from international research firm Canalys.

Huawei’s two smartphone brands – Huawei and Honor – expanded their combined market share to a record 27 per cent in the three months to June, up from 21 per cent during the same period a year ago, to mark the biggest share for any smartphone vendor in China since the second quarter of 2011, according to the report released on Wednesday.

Shenzhen-based Huawei also broke the record for the greatest number of channel shipments by any vendor, at 28.5 million units. Xiaomi, which is ranked fourth for shipments in China as of June, reported no growth year-on-year in the second quarter, with flat market share of 14 per cent, according to Canalys.

The growth in share for Huawei was mainly due to a strong performance from its budget Honor brand, which contributed 55 per cent of the group’s entire shipments in the past quarter, up from 33 per cent a year ago. The company is on track to ship 200 million handsets to both domestic and global markets in 2018, mobile segment chief Richard Yu Chengdong said last week, bringing it within reach of Apple as the second-largest vendor globally behind Samsung Electronics.

“Honor is now the largest smartphone brand in the Huawei Consumer Business Group,” said Canalys analyst Mo Jia. “Enjoying a high level of autonomy within Huawei, Honor has been pushing to make a name for itself in the market. It has expanded successfully into the US$500+ segment with its latest flagship models and continues to erode market share of its direct competitors in the low-cost segment, such as Xiaomi,” said Jia.