However, the last quarter saw a 1.2% year-over-year increase in shipments, thanks to strong demand for premium smartphones, particularly in major cities. Apple’s strategic price cuts through third-party channels played a pivotal role in this growth, as did Honor’s reinforced channel partnerships and diversified product offerings, securing their respective top spots in the market.

A remarkable turnaround was Huawei’s re-entry into the top five, after more than two years, suggesting a revitalized competitive landscape. Despite these shifts, the final quarter of 2023 revealed nuanced dynamics: Apple and Honor slightly decreased their market shares, while Huawei saw a significant 36.2% increase, and the ‘Others’ category grew by 11.9%, indicating a diversifying market.

In contrast, Q4 2023 observed a 1.2% year-over-year uplift in shipments to 73.6 million units, halting a streak of declines over ten quarters. This rebound was spearheaded by robust demand for premium smartphones in major cities, while the market for lower-end phones lagged, despite their majority share in China’s market.

Arthur Guo, a senior research analyst at IDC China, highlighted Apple’s ascent to prominence amidst stiffened competition and subdued spending. Apple’s strategic price cuts through third-party channels spurred demand, securing its dominance.

Concurrently, Honor solidified its second position through enhanced channel partnerships and a diversified product suite, appealing to both high-end and mid-range segments.

A notable event in 4Q23 was Huawei’s resurgence in the top five after a hiatus exceeding two years, notes Will Wong, IDC Asia/Pacific’s senior research manager. This comeback intensifies competition in the world’s most significant smartphone arena.

The data reveals a mixed picture:

• Apple’s market share declined slightly from 20.6% in Q4 2022 to 20.0% in Q4 2023, indicating a -2.1% change.
• Honor also saw a slight dip from 17.1% to 16.8%, a -0.9% change.
• Vivo’s market presence shrank by -8.4%, dropping to 15.7% from 17.4%.
• Huawei defied the trend, soaring by +36.2% to reach a 13.9% market share, up from 10.3%.
• OPPO’s share fell by -16.1% to 13.7%, down from 16.5%.
• The ‘Others’ category grew by +11.9%, accumulating a 20.0% share, a significant collective rise.

The overall market dynamics for 2023 contrast with the final quarter, suggesting a nuanced recovery trajectory. While Apple and Honor lead the charge, with Huawei’s return signaling a potential market shakeup, companies like Vivo and OPPO may need to rethink strategies to maintain their footholds.

The Rise of Foldable Smartphones

In a notable development, IDC’s latest quarterly mobile phone tracker highlights the explosive growth of China’s foldable smartphone market, with shipments reaching approximately 2.77 million units in Q4 2023, a staggering 149.6% year-over-year increase.

This surge is propelled by new releases from Huawei, OPPO, and Honor, marking a continuous rapid growth trend for the fourth consecutive year, with a total of 7.01 million units shipped in 2023, up 114.5% from the previous year.

Improvements in hardware technology, software applications, and a drop in prices have enhanced the consumer experience and widened the foldable smartphone’s appeal. The price segment of $400-$600 is becoming increasingly populated, reflecting the segment’s potential for further growth.

Market Preferences and Performance

Consumers have shown a preference for horizontally folding devices over their vertically folding counterparts, despite the latter’s lower price points, due to the superior screen experience they offer.

Horizontally folding models, especially favored by the business sector for mobile office use, regained market share, reaching 68.1%, a 10.4 percentage point increase from the previous year.

In terms of market performance, Huawei dominated the foldable market with its Mate X5 series, capturing a 37.4% share.

OPPO followed with an 18.3% share, leading the vertically folding segment. Honor’s aggressive push in the second half of 2023 earned it third place, with a 17.7% share and the fastest growth rate of 467.0%. Samsung and Vivo rounded out the top five, facing stiff competition in the vibrant Chinese market.

Future Outlook

Arthur Guo of IDC China underscores the importance of balance between design and reliability in the foldable market.

As manufacturers vie for dominance in 2024, the foldable smartphone segment is set to continue its rapid expansion, driven by innovation and an increasing number of market players.

This evolving landscape suggests a dynamic future for China’s smartphone market, with foldable technology at the forefront of the next wave of mobile innovation.

China filed 58,990 applications in 2019 via WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) System, comparing with the U.S. 57,840 applications. The U.S. held the top position each year since the PCT began operations in 1978.

In 1999, WIPO received 276 applications from China. By 2019, that number rose to 58,990 – a 200-fold increase in only twenty years.

Asia-based applicants now account for more than half of all PCT applications (52.4%) while Europe (23.2%) and North America (22.8%) accounted for less than a quarter each.

In 2019, the top five users of the PCT were: China (58,990 PCT applications), the U.S (57,840), Japan (52,660), Germany (19,353) and the Republic of Korea (19,085).

Among the top 15 origins, Turkey (+46.7%), the Republic of Korea (+12.8%), Canada (+12.2%) and China (+10.6%) recorded double-digit annual growth in 2019. The strong growth for Turkey moved it up in the top 15 rank for the first time.

Among the top 15 origins, Germany (-2%) and the Netherlands (-3%) are the only two origins to report a decrease in filings.

International patent applications filed via the PCT grew by 5.2% (265,800 applications) in 2019, while international trademark applications via the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks increased by 5.7% (64,400 applications).

For the third consecutive year, China-based telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, with 4,411 published PCT applications, was the top corporate filer in 2019. It was followed by:

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp. of Japan (2,661);
• Samsung Electronics of the Republic of Korea (2,334;
• Qualcomm Inc. of the U.S. (2,127); and
• Guang Dong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications of China (1,927).

The top 10 applicant list comprises four companies from China, two from the Republic of Korea, and one each from Germany, Japan, Sweden and the U.S.. The top 10-university list comprises five universities from the U.S., four from China and one from the Republic of Korea.

International Patent Applications by Country

International trademark system (Madrid System)

Trademark owners filed a record 3,693 cases under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) with WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center, while WIPO’s two-dozen plus treaties gained 55 new accessions or ratifications in 2019 and preliminary financial results showed an approximate surplus of 97.5 million Swiss francs.

U.S.-based applicants (10,087) filed the largest number of international trademark applications using WIPO’s Madrid System in 2019, followed by those located in Germany (7,700), China (6,339), France (4,437) and Switzerland (3,729).

L’Oréal of France with 189 applications headed the list of top filers, followed by Novartis AG of Switzerland (135), Huawei Technologies of China (131), Nirsan Connect Private Limited of India (124) and Rigo Trading of Luxembourg (103).

For the first time, applicants from China and India are among the top five applicants.

Protection for industrial designs via the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs saw a 10.4% growth (21,807 designs), capping another record-setting year for WIPO’s global IP services.

About WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, WIPO assists its 193 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society’s evolving needs.

The three leading smartphone brands – Huawei (excluding Honor), Xiaomi, and iPhone – kept winning more shares in urban China market as all grew their shares over a year ago, according to the Q3 data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Xiaomi Mi 8 was the most popular handset model in Q3 2018. The next three models on the best-seller ranking were all from iPhone, including the runner-up iPhone X.

As more brands followed iPhone’s suit to launch premium products, the average selling price of smartphones in Q3 increased across the industry. The proportion of sales from premium models increased by 7 percentage points from a year ago.

Huawei continued to win consumers from other brands. Huawei ranked No.1 in terms of net new consumers won (=total new consumers won – total new consumers lost) in Q3, followed by iPhone.

Among all the users leaving Huawei and Honor, the proportion of people joining iPhone camp decreased from a year ago. While the proportions of OPPO/VIVO-turned-iPhone user increased.

There is a lot in common in ex-OPPO/VIVO users, such as they’re relatively young, most of them live in tier-1 and -2 cities, not happy with chips and speed, pay attention to other people’s recommendations, etc.

It’s more important, and to some extent easier, for smartphone brands to keep existing consumers compared to win over consumers. They need to invest more in raising loyalty, according to Liang Yaguang, Consumer Insight Director of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech China.

The average Net Promoter Score (NPS) among Chinese consumers dropped in Q3. Huawei (excluding Honor), VIVO, and OPPO are above the average among mainstream iPhone. The NPS for Samsung eclipsed that of Xiaomi for the first time.

As major brands keep expanding their user bases, the user profiles began to look more like each other. OPPO and VIVO both had more male users while Huawei (excluding Honor) and Xiaomi had obtained more female consumers.

In the United States, Android lost ground to iOS in Q3. Early sales of iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models in the United States are good news for Apple.

Combined with the continued strong momentum among iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, these sales have contributed to a 5.0 percentage point increase in OS share for Apple in the US – the biggest gain seen worldwide in Q3 2018.

iPhone 8 was the top-selling model in the US over the quarter, with a 9.4% share of the handset market, according to Dominic Sunnebo, Global Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

But in the five main European markets (UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy), Android made significant gains against iOS. The Samsung Galaxy S9 was the top-selling model across the big five markets in September. Meanwhile, the newly released Galaxy Note 9 has made it into the top 10 most popular models for the month. Both Huawei (P20 Lite) and Xiaomi (Mi Note 5) made it to the top five handset ranking for the first time.

European consumers are holding on to their handsets more than two months longer than they were in 2016. Huawei has consolidated its position as the second best-selling brand in Europe behind Samsung from the launch of its P20 series.

Xiaomi continued to expand rapidly in Spain and, more recently, in Italy and France. The focused push that Huawei and Xiaomi are making into Europe is causing pain for their rivals across the board. However, it is Sony, LG, and Wiko who are being disproportionally impacted as a result of their historic over-reliance on the ultra-competitive low and mid-price tiers.

In Japan, Apple continued to lead handset sales under the pressure from Sharp and Huawei, both of which has increased shares of sales by 6 percentage points and 3.2 percentage points, respectively. Sharp’s flagship Aquos R2 and Huawei’s P20 Lite were among the top five best-sellers for the third quarter.

This post was originally published on Kantar.com.

China had a total of 751,000 new patent filings in H1 2018, 217,000 of which were granted, according to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). Specifically, 171,000 granted invention patents are domestic patents, among which, 159,000 are service innovation-creation, accounting for 93.2% of granted domestic patents.

By the end of June 2018, Chinese mainland had altogether 1.475 million invention patent filings and the average number of invention patents reached 10.6 per 10,000 people.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. took the first spot on the top 10 ranking with 1,775 granted invention patents, followed by Sinopec Group (1,569) and OPPO (1,520).

Beijing tops the list of top 10 Chinese regions securing the highest number of invention patents per 10,000 people in H1 2018.

SIPO has handled 23,000 PCT filings in H1 2018, among which, 21,600 from domestic, up by 7.6% year-on-year. There are 7 regions filed with over 500 PCT applications, combined accounting for over 80% of the national PCT filings.

Check out the forecast of China’s mobile internet market 2018-2020.

China smartphone market declined 15.7% year-over-year (YoY) in Q4 2017 and 4.9% for the whole of 2017 according to IDC.

Apple’s share increased YoY and QoQ in Q4 2017. Although the iPhone X was available in short supply initially at launch in early November 2017, the supply constraints for this model eased towards the end of the quarter. Apple’s ASP increased by 23.9% YoY in 2017Q4 largely due to the shipments of the iPhone X. Apple alone made up 85% of the overall shipments in >US$600 premium segment.

Huawei appears on the radar to compete with Apple in the >US$600 premium segment. Huawei grew in Q4 2017 largely due to the strong shipment for both its Honor and Huawei branded phones in the US$600 premium segment still remains low, it has grown from making up 2% of the shipments in this segment in 2016Q4 to 8% in Q4 2017. With its Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro series being quite popular, Huawei will be a potential competitor to Apple in the >US$600 premium segment in China.

With Samsung’s continued troubles in the China market, Huawei has successfully managed to break into the high-end Android vendor space, although price points of the flagship Huawei phones are carefully priced lower than the iPhone prices at launch.

OPPO and vivo are focusing more on the mid-range segment, with a higher share of their portfolio focused on the mid-range segment compared to a year ago. The reduction in the number of OPPO and vivo models in the low-end segment also contributed to their YoY decline in Q4 2017.

While focusing more on the mid-range segment has hurt its overall shipment growth, OPPO and Vivo’s overall ASPs have increased YoY. In terms of revenue, OPPO ranked second to Apple and was above Huawei. vivo follows at fourth place. Thus, while OPPO’s shipments may have declined, it is growing in terms of its overall revenue.

China smartphone users: iPhone vs Android

Leading smartphone brands have tightened their grip of urban China market. In the three months ending October 2017, the top five brands – Huawei (including sub-brand Honor), Xiaomi, Apple, Vivo and OPPO – made up 91% of smartphone sales in urban China, compared to 79% a year earlier, according to the latest smartphone OS data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

China, a market once overrun with new challengers, is maturing.

“Chinese challenger brands like Meizu, LeTV, Coolpad, ZTE, and Lenovo were once on the same trajectory as like of Xiaomi, but any momentum they once had has abruptly stopped, with many struggling to get past a 1% share,” said Dominic Sunnebo, Global Business Unit Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “Samsung’s performance in China continues to deteriorate, with its share now down to just 2.2% of that market.”

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech carries out monthly panel surveys among Chinese urban mobile phone users to monitor the market share changes of various brands. In China, the panel size is 22,000. Panellists were recruited from tier-1 to 5 cities and each year more than 260,000 surveys were conducted. The nature of the research methodology means it can cover the influence of smartphones sold in other countries ended up in China and avoid the confusion caused by unsold phones stocked at warehouses of distributors.

Digging deeper into the data, we can see that Xiaomi and Honor both realized significant growth in August – October period. Xiaomi’s sales market share jumped to 20.1%, 1 percentage point higher than in the May – July circle. However, due to its previously lacklustre performance, currently only 13.8% of all urban smartphone users are using Xiaomi, 2.1 percentage points lower than a year ago.

Honor’s share was 11.7% in August – October, also 1 percentage point higher than in May – July circle. Among all urban smartphone users, 9.8% are using Honor, 1.3 percentage points higher than a year ago.

Among the top 20 best-selling models during August – October period, eight are from Xiaomi or Honor.

Even though “price” is the biggest advantage of both brands when people making their purchasing decision, Xiaomi and Honor have both managed to achieve higher selling prices. Between August and October, the average selling price of Xiaomi models is 1,640.32 yuan, 321.96 yuan higher than a year ago; that of Honor phones is 2,136.66 yuan, 506.53 yuan higher than a year ago.

It’s a bittersweet period for Apple. Urban China remained a bright spot for Apple, with its share edging up 0.5 percentage point in the latest three months to reach 17.4%.

But globally, iOS share fell in key markets, making clear the impact of the flagship iPhone X not being available to buy in the month of October.

Dominic said: “It was somewhat inevitable that Apple would see volume share fall once we had a full comparative month of sales taking into account the non-flagship iPhone 8 vs. the flagship iPhone 7 from 2016. This decrease is significant and puts pressure on the iPhone X to perform.

“Considering the complete overhaul that the iPhone X offers, consumers may be postponing their purchase decisions until they can test the iPhone X and decide whether the higher price, compared to the iPhone 8, is worth the premium to them,” he said.

He added: “As of October 2017, 35.3% of Apple’s installed base customers across Europe and the United States had owned their iPhones for more than two years – up from 30.1% a year earlier and signifying considerable pent-up demand within Apple’s base. In pure value terms, it is likely the iPhone X average selling price will more than make up for a dip in sales of older iPhone models.”

China smartphone market in Q3 2017; 4 out of 10 using Huawei or iPhone

iPhone has the highest retention rate (18.6%) in Q1 2017, followed by Huawei (13.4%). However, Huawei is the top smartphone brand in China by sales (19.2%) in the first quarter of 2017, followed by OPPO (18.7%).

China Smartphone Retention in Q1 2017

Smartphone Sales in China in Q1 2017

Top Android Smartphones

Top iPhone Models in Q1 2017

Related: E-Book: China Mobile Trends 2017

iOS market share dropped to 26.3% in China’s smartphone market from 29.1% in January 2017 according to a research company Newzoo.

iPhone remains the top smartphone brand in China in February 2017 by the number of monthly active devices (26.3%), followed by Huawei (15.6%), Xiaomi (13.8%), OPPO (13.8%), and Vivo (12.1%). Xiaomi AppStore bypassed Baidu Mobile Assistant to be the third Android App Store in China in Feb 2017.

OPPO and Vivo are the top two smartphone brands in Feb 2017 by sales, primarily driven by offline sales. Xiaomi dropped to the sixth with only 3.3% market share in offline sales and 23% in onlinene sales according a Chinese research company Sino.

• OPPO sold 7 million units offline (13.5 billion yuan), 206 thousand units online (460 million yuan)
• Vivo sold 6.17 million units offline (11.1 billion yuan), 187 thousand units online (464 million yuan)
• Xiaomi sold 1.1 million units offline (1.24 billion yuan), 1,896 thousand units online (2,277 million yuan)

Huawei’s HONOR (1.904 million units; 2.6 bn yuan) and Xiaomi (1.896 mn units; 2.28 bn yuan) are the top two best selling smartphone brands in terms of total online sales.

The top 10 Android app stores by total user coverage in China in December 2016 according to TalkingData are:

1. 360 Mobile Assistant
2. Tencent’s App Store
3. Baidu Mobile Assistant
4. Xiaomi App Store
5. OPPO App Store
6. Xiaomi Games Center
7. Huawei App Store
8. Google Play
9. Vivo Games Store
10. Vivo App Store

In comparison, another research company iiMedia data showed that the top 3 app stores by total number of active users in Q4 2016 were 360 Mobile Assistant (42.4%), Tencent App Store (34.8%), Baidu Mobile Assistant (25.1%), Wandoujia+PP Assistant (21.2%).

China has surpassed the United States as the largest market in the world for iOS App Store revenue earning over $1.7 billion in Q3 2016.

Download E-Book for details: Mobile Trend in China 2017 (CIW Premium members only)

China smartphone shipments were up 9% in Q4 2016 and 12% in 2016 according to Counterpoint. Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo (HOV) emerged as clear winners in 2016.

Oppo, Huawei, vivo, Meizu, and Gionee captured a combined 58% of the total Chinese smartphone market in 2016. Demand for rest of the brands declined, especially Xiaomi and Apple.

Oppo and Vivo were the fastest growing brand and since June 2016 owing to strong omnipresent distribution channels from tier-1 to tier-4 cities across China. Xiaomi slipped to the fourth spot during the year as the demand for its smartphones declined 22% annually.

Best-Selling Smartphone Models Share in 2016

Oppo R9 rose to the best-selling smartphone in China in 2016 breaking Apple’s iPhone dominance streak as the best-seller for the first time since 2012.

Android accounted for 80.7% of urban China smartphone sales in Q4 2016, an increase of 9.3 percentage points year-over-year according to Kantar. iOS made up 19.1% of smartphone sales, down from 27.1% in the same period a year earlier. iPhone 7 remained the top-selling model in the Chinese market in the last quarter of 2016 at 6.8%.

Related: China Smartphone Usage Insights 2016

Lenovo was ranked the most powerful Chinese export brand by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown, followed by Huawei, Alibaba, Elex and Xiaomi.

Update: Check out the latest ranking of top China brands here.

The “BrandZ™ Top 30 Chinese Global Brand Builders” 2017 ranking lists the Chinese brands that have most successfully established a presence in overseas markets.

1. Lenovo
2. Huawei (among world’s top growing brand in 2016)
3. Alibaba (also ranked the world’s 2nd most valuable retail brand)
4. Elex
5. Xiaomi (Apple and Xiaomi are found most relevant to the lives of China’s Gen-Y and Gen-Z consumers )
6. Air China
7. Haier
8. Anker
9. Cheetah Mobile
10. Hisense
11. GO Launcher
12. OnePlus
13. dji
14. China Eastern
15. ZTE
16. FunPlus
17. Qihoo 360
18. TCL
19. Tap4Fun
20. I Got Games
21. Youzu
22. Ourpalm
23. GearBest
24. China Southern Airlines
25. LightInTheBox
26. Oppo
27. Vivo
28. Ninebot
29. Tencent
30. Great Wall

The awareness gap between Chinese brands and other brands is narrower in France, Germany, Australia, and Spain.

Related: China is a relatively “brand content friendly” market

Also read: Top Chinese Brands

iOS accounted for 17.1% of smartphone sales in urban China during the three-month period ending in October 2016 due to iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus’ strong performances according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

iPhone 7 was the second best-selling phone in urban China in the period, capturing 3.8% of all smartphone sales. iPhone 7 Plus also cracked the top 10 at 1.9%… Oppo continues to gain footing in urban China, achieving 11.8% of smartphone sales, with the R9 remaining the top selling device in the region.

said Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia.

Huawei, Oppo and BBK Communication Equipment together accounted for 21% of the smartphones sold to end users worldwide in Q3 2016. Check out the top 20 smartphone models in China in Q3 2016 here.

iOS declined in Urban China, falling to 13.5% of smartphone sales according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Android dropped 1.7 percentage points in the US.

iOS accounted for 13.5% of smartphone sales In Urban China in the three months ending August 2016, the lowest share for iOS since before the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in July 2014 according to Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia.

Android accounted for nearly nine out of every ten smartphones sold, with Huawei and Xiaomi remaining the top two brands in the region. Oppo, close on Apple’s heels, accounted for 10.6% of sales, with the Oppo R9 becoming the second best-selling phone in the region at 4%, behind the iPhone 6s at 4.3%.

The top three smartphone brands in September 2016 are Huawei (22%), Vivo (15%), and Oppo (13%) according to Dixintong. Find out more here.

Also read: Top 10 mobile apps by MAUs in Sep 2016

Oppo has for the very first time overtaken Apple to the number two smartphones brand in India by value in August 2016 according to GFK.

Oppo reached a growth of 16% in August 2016 comparing to the previous month.

In the Indian market, Oppo has been expanding its offline presence by targeting 35,000 Point of Sales and 180 after sales service centres for giving its consumers a better experience.

Also read: China smartphone market overview for Q2 2016

Over 60% China smartphone users would not buy iPhone 7 according to a survey by Penguin Intelligence (part of Tencent).

70.9% Chinese male respondents said they would not buy iPhone 7 compared with 61.3% female respondents. After Apple’s 7 Sep event, over 25% smartphone users changed their decision, among which 20.2% gave up the purchase intention.

The main reason of not getting iPhone 7 is the demand (31%), followed by dissatisfaction in the upgrade (21.5%), pricing (13.6%), and quality (2.8%).

Huawei (38.3%) is the top choice for the next smartphone; and, the next version of iPhone came second (18%), followed by Oppo (10.1%).

The survey also found that among the iPhone 7 fans, large screen, longer battery life, and better camera lens are the top factors for purchase. And, over half users tend to buy 128G ones.

iPhone 7’s jet black is the top choice for male fans (62.2%); and, rose gold is the female’s favorite (51.2%).

Read more: China smartphone market insights 2016

25% of China smartphone users use the iOS operating system in 2016, a slight growth compared to the past year which was 21%.

Although majority of China smartphone users use Android phones, 78% iOS users are loyal to their operating system and only 9% iOS users will select an Android smartphone as their next smartphone. As for Android users, 59% of them will continue using Android phones, which has increased 33% compared to 2015.

Apple iPhone is the most popular brand in China while Huawei becomes the most frequently used Android brand (17%), followed by Xiaomi (13%) and Samsung (8%).

29% users use new iPhone models in 2015 and 28% in 2014 after a 7-months release.

As for different iPhone models, 21% of users use iPhone 5s in 2015, followed by iPhone 4s (19%) and iPhone 6 (15%); in 2016, 21% of users use iPhone 6, followed by iPhone 6s (16%) as well as iPhone 5s (16%).

The most popular smartphone brands in China in 2016 are Apple (25%) and Huawei (17%). Huawei has increased seven percentage points while Apple has decreased 4. Samsung’s share dropped from 17% in 2015 to 8% in 2016.

35% of Chinese users want to buy an iPhone as their next smartphone while 19% of them want to buy an Huawei smartphone.

In terms of different smartphone users, most of Chinese iPhone users still plan to buy an iPhone in the future (77%), Huawei as the second option.

59% Huawei users show loyalty to their current brand, but 17% of them tend to switch to iPhone.

45% Xiaomi users will continue using Xiaomi smartphones; 21% will turn to iPhone and 12% to Huawei.

56% iPhone users are female while 59% Huawei users are male.

The 80s and 90s are drivers of the smartphone market; 37% of iPhone users are the 90s and 36% are the 80s; Huawei users are mainly the 70s (25%), the 80s (30%), and the 90s (25%).

iPhone users in tier 1 and tier 2 cities are more than Huawei users; but, in tier 3, tier 4 and below, Huawei users are more than iPhone users.

Near half of iPhone (42%) and Huawei (44%) users have the income of roughly 2,000 to 5,000 yuan a month.

28% iPhone users are white-collars and 21% are students. Both white-collar employees and students account for 20% of Huawei users.

Top 10 Android brands in 2016 are Huawei, Xiaomi, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Meizu, Lenovo, Coolpad, Le smartphone, and Gionee.

In tier 4 and below, Oppo users account for 45% and Vivo 47%.

The 90s are the major users of Oppo and Vivo; 46% of the respondent 90s are Oppo users and 59% Vivo users.

23% Chinese users plan to buy an Oppo smartphone as their next Android smartphone brand, followed by Xiaomi (19%) and Huawei (12%).

58% Oppo users and 56% Vivo users are female, which show that Oppo and Vivo smartphones are more popular for females.

47% students use Vivo and 45% use Oppo.