Sales of foreign-branded smartphones in China fell by 44.25% year-on-year in October, according to new data from a Chinese government-affiliated research firm. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology reported that foreign-branded phone sales decreased to 6.22 million units last month, down from 11.149 million units a year earlier. This drop contrasts with an overall 1.8% increase in phone sales in China during the same period.
The decline in foreign smartphone sales coincides with the rise of Chinese tech giant Huawei in the domestic market. Huawei gained popularity last year with the release of the Mate 60 Pro, featuring a cutting-edge chip developed by a Chinese company. Chinese consumers have shown a growing preference for locally made technology, increasingly choosing Huawei’s offerings over foreign brands such as Apple’s iPhone.
On Tuesday, Huawei introduced the next generation of its flagship smartphone series, the Mate 70. Huawei’s consumer group chairman, Richard Yu, described the Mate 70 as the “smartest” Mate phone to date.
Foreign smartphone sales decline
The new Mate 70 series boasts advanced artificial intelligence-enabled features, superior photography capabilities, and operates on HarmonyOS, a system designed for seamless connectivity with other smart devices. Huawei’s advancements in creating its own chips mark a milestone, particularly after U.S. measures aimed at restricting the company’s access to international suppliers. AI technology, which relies heavily on advanced semiconductor chips, remains central to the ongoing tech rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
Both nations are vying for dominance in the advanced technology sector, and Huawei’s ability to develop its own components is a notable development in this competition. Apple has faced challenges in maintaining its market share in China. Despite the AI capabilities of Apple’s iPhone 16, these features have not yet been implemented in iPhones sold in China.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is visiting China for the third time this year to attend an industry conference, indicating the importance of the Chinese market to Apple, which ranks it as their second-most critical market globally. With Huawei’s release of the Mate 70 series, the competition in China’s smartphone market is set to intensify as consumers continue to shift towards domestic brands amid broader technological and geopolitical dynamics.
