Huawei leads China’s foldable market with 97% Q3 growth, according to a report.
Huawei Technologies experienced a significant increase in its shipments of foldable smartphones in the third quarter, with shipments nearly doubling. The company shipped 1.12 million foldable handsets from July to September, marking a 97% year-on-year increase, according to a CINNO report. This surge solidified Huawei’s position as the top-selling foldable brand in China, surpassing competitors like Honor, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Samsung Electronics.
The strong growth was primarily driven by the success of Huawei’s Mate X5, launched in last September, which has maintained its status as the best-selling foldable model. Huawei has been the leader in the Chinese foldable smartphone market for five consecutive years, the report noted.
The report was released ahead of the highly anticipated Mate X6, set for launch on November 26. The new model has already generated significant excitement, with over 200,000 online pre-orders within two hours of the reservation period starting on Wednesday.
Furthermore, this launch comes amid a recovery in China’s smartphone market, which is expected to see its first annual sales growth in five years. Total smartphone sales in the country grew 2.3% year-on-year in the third quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of growth, as reported by Counterpoint.
China as the largest market for foldable smartphones
Furthermore, China remains the world’s largest foldable smartphone market, with domestic sales rising 79% year-on-year to 3.54 million units in the third quarter. The market penetration rate increased to 4.1%, up from 2.2% a year ago, signaling a steady upward trend.
Additionally, Huawei is focusing on the high-end segment of the market as it competes with other foldable smartphone brands. In September, it launched the world’s first commercial trifold smartphone, the Mate XT, priced at 19,999 yuan (US$2,762) for the domestic market. Most importantly, this model has allowed Huawei to directly compete with Apple’s iPhone 16 series.
In the third quarter, Huawei dominated the high-end foldable market, accounting for 85% of models priced above 10,000 yuan, according to CINNO. A separate report from Chinese consultancy BCI estimated that Huawei held a 50.7% share of the domestic foldable smartphone market.
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