Apple posts yet another record to skyrocket to second place in the world's biggest smartphone market
Apple was only the fifth-largest smartphone vendor in China in Q2 2025, but a year later, the company is taking home the silver medal and threatening Huawei's regional supremacy.
As always, the importance of that market is given by its sheer size, which makes it possible for a vendor outside the regional top three to sell more than 10 million handsets and still finish the quarter several millions of units behind China's champion (which is not even Apple).
This nation has two winners
... and they're the same ones that defied the country's overall 1 percent decline in Q1 sales to report vastly different improvements of 7 and 42 percent in their numbers compared to the first three months of 2025.
Huawei and Apple stand far above the pack composed of the rest of China's top smartphone vendors. | Image by Omdia
This time around, Huawei and Apple's year-on-year gains are almost equal, at 25 and 24 percent, respectively, but because the latter was only China's number five smartphone vendor in Q2 2025, the Q2 2026 gap between the two still stands at a pretty substantial four percentage points in share and 2.8 million units in shipment volume.
But that doesn't make Apple's record-setting Q2 slice of the pie and incredible jump from fifth place to the silver medal position any less remarkable, especially when these achievements somehow happened as total Chinese smartphone sales dipped 2 percent from the April-June 2025 timeframe.
What about everyone else?
Because that 2 percent drop has to come from someone, and that someone is obviously not Huawei or Apple, you probably won't be shocked to hear that all other major (and minor) vendors are down. We're not just talking Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, mind you, but the "others" group as well, which is actually responsible for the biggest (combined) decline of the quarter, narrowly edging out fifth placer Xiaomi for this very dubious honor.
Those are pretty bad declines for Oppo, Vivo, and especially Xiaomi and the others category. | Image by Omdia
With those 22 and 21 percent drops in mind, it almost feels like Oppo should be commended for only slipping 9 percent from its 11.6 million unit shipment tally of Q2 2025 and beating sister brand Vivo for the final spot on the regional podium in Q2 2026.
Why do you think Apple is so successful in markets like China?
Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, of course, as well as all of China's "other" vendors, had to suffer primarily due to rising product prices brought about by an increase in key component costs. Naturally, Apple and Huawei use the same components on their phones too, but due to their stature and negotiating power with parts suppliers, the two top brands managed to keep prices a lot steadier than their competition, thus gaining a huge advantage that ultimately allowed them to substantially boost sales at a very tricky time.
What's on the horizon?
For China's smartphone market as a whole, a significantly larger decline at the end of the year. Specifically, 6 percent according to the latest projections, which is... actually a lot better than how analytics firms like Omdia expect global sales to look when 2026's full-year numbers are added up.
The Chinese smartphone market has gone through five consecutive quarterly declines, and at least two more are next. | Image by Omdia
For Apple and Huawei, the rest of the year might prove a little more challenging than the first six months as well because it's pretty clear that no brand will remain immune to rising memory costs forever.
Still, these will almost certainly be the nation's top two vendors in Q3 and Q4 2026 too, and if last year's trends are any indication, Apple could continue to improve its sales volume in China and possibly take the regional crown at the end of the year. That's my bold prediction, mind you, rather than Omdia's, and it obviously depends a great deal on how successful the (costly) iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max will prove during their first few months of local (and global) availability.
Six-month unlimited plan is now 57% off
$90
$210
$120 off (57%)
Mint Mobile is now allowing you to get whichever plan you like for either three, six, or 12 months for just $15/mo. If you go for the six-month unlimited service, for instance, you'll now have to pay just $90 upfront instead of $210.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: