China smartphone shipments continue decline in third quarter as former Huawei mobile brand Honor reclaims top vendor ranking

Third-quarter smartphone shipments on the mainland fell 5 per cent year on year to 66.7 million units, according to a report on Thursday by tech market research firm Canalys. That compares to a 1 per cent decline in global smartphone shipments during the same period, as estimated by Canalys in a separate report last week.

Honor reclaimed the top smartphone vendor spot in mainland China last quarter with an 18 per cent market share and total shipments of 11.8 million units. That comes more than a year since Honor last led the market in the first quarter of 2022, with a 20 per cent share and total shipments of 15 million.

Analysts attributed Honor’s ascent to the top of China’s smartphone vendor rankings to its diverse portfolio of handsets, bricks-and-mortar retail expansion through partners, and release of competitively-priced new models.

“Besides covering all price bands, Honor has been expanding its offline store presence across all tiers of Chinese cities and investing in improved brand awareness,” Canalys research manager Amber Liu told the South China Morning Post on Thursday.

The performance of Honor last quarter showed that China’s smartphone market may have already bottomed out, which Canalys saw as a signal of gradual demand recovery.