Apple Reclaims No. 1 Spot in China After 2 Years... Q4 Market Share at 21.8%

Apple's Market Share in China Rose from 15.4% to 16.7% Last Year

Apple has reclaimed the top spot in quarterly market share in China for the first time in two years.

According to market research firm Counterpoint Research on January 20, the iPhone's market share in China reached 21.8% in the fourth quarter of last year. This is a 5.0 percentage point increase compared to the same period the previous year, when the market share was 16.8%.

This marks the first time since the fourth quarter of 2023 that Apple has ranked first in the Chinese smartphone market on a quarterly basis. The main factor was a 28.0% year-on-year increase in iPhone shipments in China during the same period.

Buoyed by strong sales in the fourth quarter, Apple’s overall market share in the Chinese smartphone market for the entire previous year rose from 15.4% to 16.7%. The company is now closely trailing market leader Huawei, which holds a 16.9% share.

Chinese financial media outlet Sina Finance explained that, despite a worsening shortage of key memory semiconductors, the iPhone 17 series drove consumer demand and had a positive impact on Apple’s recovery of market share in China.

Meanwhile, last year’s smartphone market share rankings in China were as follows: Huawei and Apple were followed by Vivo (16.4%), Xiaomi (15.7%), Oppo (15.5%), and Honor (13.4%).