The European and North American smartphone markets have experienced successful recoveries since the first lockdowns two years ago. But recent COVID-19 outbreaks in China have brought the local smartphone down to its knees.reveals that smartphone shipments in China declined 14% year-on-year during the first quarter of 2022, reaching 74.2 million units and inching closer to the levels seen in Q1 2020. The report notes that demand collapsed because of a multitude of factors.
Honor’s local sales increased a whopping 166.8% year-on-year during the first three months of the year, meaning it now holds a market share of almost 17% compared to 5.5% twelve months earlier. The brand’s success in China can be attributed to the Honor 60, which even helped Honor beats its Q4 2021 shipments despite the overall market weaknesses. Honor’s rise is expected to continue in the coming months.
As noted in previous reports, Apple and the iPhone have benefited from Huawei’s rapid decline and so far no other local brand has been able to compete on a significant level in the premium segment.After briefly losing its number one spot to Apple in the holiday quarter, Vivo retook the lead in the first three months of 2022, despite experiencing a significant drop in sales of 21.3%.