Chinese brands and Apple drive global smartphone shipment growth for fifth straight quarter

Shipments from Vivo surged nearly 23 per cent in the third quarter, while Samsung’s fell almost 3 per cent, according to IDC

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Promotional signage for Black Friday at a Xiaomi store in Madrid, Spain. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 6:32pm, 15 Oct 2024Updated: 6:39pm, 15 Oct 2024

Chinese Android smartphone brands saw shipments soar in the third quarter, boosting the global handset market along with Apple, which launched the latest version of its iPhone last month, according to data from industry researchers.

Worldwide smartphone shipments climbed 4 per cent to surpass 316 million units, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of growth despite economic headwinds, according to a report by research firm IDC on Monday.

Xiaomi, which introduced new flagship devices and foldable handsets last quarter, retained the No 3 spot. Its smartphone shipments rose over 3 per cent to 42.8 million units, capturing more than 13 per cent of the global market.

Oppo, in fourth place, shipped 28.8 million smartphones, up nearly 6 per cent year on year. Vivo rounded out the top five with the fastest growth, surging almost 23 per cent to 27 million units.

Vivo smartphones displayed at a store in New Delhi, India. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Vivo’s strong performance was driven largely by aggressive product launches and a low comparison base from last year, said Will Wong, senior research manager for client devices at IDC Asia-Pacific.

“Led by strong growth from Chinese vendors like Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei [Technologies], the smartphone market shows resilience despite global economic headwinds,” Wong said, noting that growth among Chinese firms was uneven.