Huawei leads Q1 2025 Chinese smartphone market, Vivo ranks second

Counterpoint published its analysis of the Chinese smartphone market in Q1 2025, highlighting Huawei as the leading brand. The company not only secured the top position in this listing but also achieved a significant share in the market.

Huawei continued to lead in the Q1 2025 Chinese smartphone market for its innovative devices. It has captured a 19.4% year-on-year market share, the highest ever since 2021. The phone sales have further jumped to 28.5% YoY this year.

It is the second consecutive quarter that Huawei is at the forefront of the Chinese smartphone market. This has been possible after the firm used the Chinese subsidy.

The Chinese national subsidy is a government-provided financial aid or support to individuals, businesses, and specific sectors of the economy. It aims to stimulate economic growth, promote a specific industry, or address market failures.

Huawei took help with these subsidies, coupled with price cuts for flagship models. Besides, it has made significant improvements to its premium-priced device in terms of performance, design, AI integration, and software capabilities.

Thus, the company currently leads, contributing to the market growth.

Huawei also gained attention in the folding phone segment for the newly launched Pura X device. The device continues to lead the foldable segment at present.

Huawei Mate 70 (Image Credits: Huawei)

Vivo has grabbed the second spot with 17% market share, thanks to the budget-friendly Y series that has boosted the company’s overall sales. It even made progress in the top-end phone segment with its X200 series, offering dynamic photography.

Xiaomi is also seeing a double-digit growth year-on-year, with 16.6% of the market share. It is the second-fastest-growing brand in the first quarter, benefiting from the subsidy scheme.

OPPO and Apple followed in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. The former recorded a slight decline of 22.4% in the market share while the latter witnessed a drop of 7.7% year-on-year. Despite the best-performing iPhone Pro models, the company didn’t get a space in the top-three rankers listing.

While Honor remained absent from the listing, it may get a spot for its new battery-powered handsets. The company recently launched many cost-effective devices with top-notch features and specs that may help it reach new heights.

Speaking of the market, the Chinese smartphone sales have hiked to 2.5% YoY in the first quarter of this year. Although the results didn’t meet expectations following the US-China trade tensions.

Huawei leads Q1 2025 Chinese smartphone market, Vivo ranks second (Image Credits: Counterpoint)