China Smartphone Shipments Fall 4.3% to 66 Million in Q2 as Huawei and Apple Gain
Updated
Updated · IDC · Jul 14
China Smartphone Shipments Fall 4.3% to 66 Million in Q2 as Huawei and Apple Gain
3 articles · Updated · IDC · Jul 14
Summary
66 million smartphones shipped in China in Q2 2026, down 4.3% year over year and marking the market’s fifth straight quarterly decline.
Rising memory and component costs pushed most Android vendors to raise prices or cut configurations, while fading government subsidies further weakened upgrade demand; 618 festival smartphone sales fell nearly 15%.
Huawei and Apple bucked the downturn by holding prices steady and running targeted promotions, lifting shipments 19.4% and 24.4% respectively; Huawei led with 22.6% share and Apple reached 18.1%.
OPPO and vivo each held 16.0% share but declined, while Xiaomi fell 21.7%; the top six vendors now control about 96% of the market, squeezing smaller brands.
IDC expects cost pressure to intensify in the second half as cheaper inventory runs out, with China’s year-over-year shipment decline potentially widening to around 20% before a recovery cycle around 2028-2029.