Global and Chinese Smartphone Market in the First Half of 2018

Yesterday, Rising Sun Data released the global smartphone market report for the first half of the year. According to it, in the first quarter of this year, the global smartphone shipments decreased by 8.9% year-on-year, and the second quarter rose slightly by 2.7%. However, the Chinese smartphone market fell by 12% year-on-year, which became the main reason for the global market decline.

First of all, let’s take a look at the Chinese market. As of the second quarter of this year, the smartphone brands that occupy the top 6 of the Chinese smartphone market share are Huawei, Honor, OPPO, VIVO, Xiaomi, and Apple. Among them, OPPO topped the list with 20.1% market share. The runner-up is VIVO, with a market share of 16.9%, and Honor only ranks third with a gap of 0.2%.

By comparing the growth of the top 6 brands in China's smartphone market, we can find that in the second quarter, China's smartphone shipments fell by 12%. At the same time, Honor has become the fastest-growing brand of Chinese smartphones with an amazing 51.1% year-on-year growth rate. So we have to admit that it is a dark horse. Huawei and Apple ranked second and third with a ratio of 32% and 29.5%, respectively.

But what about the rest of the markets? For example, in Russia, as of the second quarter of this year, the smartphone brands that occupy the top 5 market share are Samsung, Honor, Huawei, Apple, and Xiaomi. Among them, Honor’s and Huawei's year-on-year growth rates were as high as 290.3% and 197.8%, respectively.

So we can state, at present, the Chinese smartphone market is a cruel battle between the top domestic brands such as Huawei, Honor, OPPO, VIVO, and Xiaomi.