In China, One in Three Smartphones Sold was a 5G Phone During Q2

Last year, when COVID-19 didn’t exist, Samsung was holding a solid 36% market share on the smartphone market. In 2020, the manufacturer was hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic and known a 20% in smartphone sales from the first quarter of 2020.

Despite the closures and slowdowns at stores and production sites around the world, Samsung enabled its extensive global supply chain, while minimizing the impact of the pandemic by strengthening online sales channels.

The  Counterpoint Research report also reveals that Apple was the fastest-growing OEM (32% YoY) during the quarter, with an impressive  32% YoY due to the popularity of the iPhone 11 series and price cuts. Moreover, iPhone SE 2020 was among the top 3 best-selling iPhones in Q2 2020. 

According to Flora Tang, Research Analyst Counterpoint, “Huawei continues to be the best performer in the China market, grabbing 46% market share in the quarter and achieving 14% YoY growth despite the overall market slowdown.”

Huawei’s sales declined 27% with a 16% share, followed by Xiaomi with a 13% slice of smartphone sales on the continent.

 “Despite a slowdown in the smartphone market in China, Chinese OEMs have picked up the pace in 5G developments that were hampered by COVID-19 disruptions in Q1 2020. In Q2, 33% of smartphones sold were 5G enabled compared to just 16% in Q1. The proportion was even higher in June, where more than 40% of smartphones sold were 5G capable. China’s 5G smartphone market is quite consolidated with HOVX grabbing 96% of the market. Huawei leads in 5G smartphone sales accounting for 60% of the market, followed by Vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi. 5G smartphones in China are still priced in the mid-to-high price range of USD$400 and above, however, 5G smartphone prices are quickly moving towards lower-tier price bands. High-end 5G smartphones are predominantly from Huawei, while Huawei, OPPO, Xiaomi, and Vivo all have various offerings in the mid-tier, ” Ethan Qi, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint concluded.

The most interesting insight is the fact that the adoption of 5G has significantly increased, with one-third of the total smartphone sales during the quarter were 5G devices.