Huawei regains top spot in China’s smartphone market

Huawei has returned to the top of China’s smartphone market for two consecutive weeks, overtaking Apple, following the launch of its Mate 80 series.

According to the reports, in the 48th week of 2025, from 24 November to 30, Huawei captured 27.81 percent of smartphone sale in China. Apple ranked behind with a share of 17.12 percent share, while OPPO, vivo, and Honor rounded out the top five.

Huawei maintained its lead in the following 49^th week, from 1 to 7 December, securing 22.89 percent of the market share compared with Apple’s 18.65 percent. OPPO and vivo again followed, with Xiaomi taking fifth place with a 13.30 percent share.

Analysts say the resurgence has been driven largely by Huawei’s pricing strategy for the Mate 80 series, which went on sale on 28 November. Despite rising global memory costs, the company launched the devices at lower prices than their predecessors.

HarmonyOS now boasts more than 300,000 native apps and meta-services. The number of devices running HarmonyOS 5 and HarmonyOS 6 has exceeded 27 million, said Richard Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei Consumer Business Group, on November 25 at Huawei’s new product launch event.

The standard Mate 80 model starts at 4,699 yuan ($666), around 800 yuan cheaper than the previous generation. The Pro and Pro Max versions were also priced 500 yuan lower, at 5,999 yuan and 7,999 yuan respectively. Online reaction has been broadly positive, with many consumers describing the phones as offering improved value.

Analysts say the combination of competitive pricing, flagship hardware and a strengthening domestic software ecosystem has helped Huawei re-establish its leadership position in its home market.