China’s smartphone shipments fell 2 per cent year-on-year in Q2 (but were up 4 per cent from Q1) due to slowing economic growth and a nearly saturated smartphone market.

Lower handset subsidies after the government’s efforts a year ago to curb subsidies also led to subdued growth during the quarter, said Counterpoint Research, which released its preliminary market share and rankings.

Xiaomi remained the largest smartphone vendor in the country with a 15.8 per cent market share (see chart below, click to enlarge). The vendor’s performance improved after a two-quarter dip as it cleared out older inventory left in the market and refreshed its portfolio with newer LTE models, the research firm said.
China Q2 smartphones

But its lead has narrowed as Huawei climbed to second spot in China with a 15.4 per cent market share (up from 11 per cent in Q2 2014). The company also overtook Microsoft to become the world’s third largest mobile phone vendor in Q2 with a 7 per cent share, according to Strategy Analytics.

Almost one in three smartphones shipped in China in Q2 were from Huawei and Xiaomi, Canalys estimated. It said Huawei’s shipments grew 48 per cent compared to Q1 — the fastest growing vendor in the global top ten.

Counterpoint said Apple was number 3 during the quarter with a market share of 12.2 per cent – up from 6.6 per cent a year ago. Its revenue more than doubled (up 112 per cent year-on-year), putting China on track to contribute almost $60 billion to Apple’s total revenues and almost $15 billion in operating income this year, Counterpoint said.

Vivo rose to the fourth position – pushing Samsung to fifth place – as it captured an 8.1 per cent market share (up from 2 per cent a year ago). Vivo was one of the fastest local brands during the quarter with year-on-year growth of close to 250 per cent.