Huawei has been a leading brand in the Chinese smartphone market for Q1 2026 with the highest share in 5 years! Counterpoint today released its report on this matter, showing the strong momentum of the Mate phone maker among other top brands.
According to Counterpoint, the Chinese smartphone sales market has seen a decrease of 4% in the first quarter of this year. This was mainly due to the shortage of memory chips and a price hike in the existing models across various phone vendors.
But something worth noticing here is the constant growth of Huawei in the Chinese smartphone market, with the “highest share ” win this time. The company is leading the market and has recorded the highest-ever quarterly share since 2020.
The Pura phone maker ranked first with a 2% YoY growth in shipments and 20% market share for the first quarter of this year. And a major credit for this achievement goes to the Mate 80.
On the flip side, the Enjoy 90 series has helped the company to maintain its lead in the home ground. What’s even more surprising is that Huawei has retained a good price strategy amid the ongoing memory cost tensions.
Counterpoint says:
“Huawei led China’s smartphone market in Q1 2026 with a 20% share, the highest since Q4 2020. It has maintained its leading position, with the brand’s shipments up 2% YoY. Besides, its heavy reliance on domestic suppliers provides a good cost buffer amid the global memory price surge.”
Besides Huawei, Apple is also seeing a positive growth in China following a strong demand for the iPhone 17 series. The company achieved 20% sales growth in Q1 2026 and owns a market share of 19%.
(Image Credits: Counterpoint)
OPPO is third on the list with the same market share but 5% of decline in its shipments. The fourth rank goes to Vivo with 2% jump in shipments as well as 15% of the market share, 1% up from the same period last year.
Honor is in fifth spot with a drop of 3% in shipments and a 13% market share. Xiaomi comes in sixth place, but slipped by 35% in sales.
The report concludes the analysis by saying that the smartphone OEMs are currently facing a double hit of shrinking shipments and thinning profit margins, with elevated memory costs likely to persist through 2026.
“As OEMs raise prices on both new and legacy models, the market demand is expected to soften further, with a modest recovery likely in early June. Against this backdrop of cost pressures, China’s smartphone sales are expected to decline 9% in 2026, but it’ll still outperform the global average.”
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