Counterpoint revealed in its latest report that China’s smartphone market is on an upward trajectory and recorded 1.5% year-on-year (YoY) growth in the first quarter of 2024. The analytics company said this is the second consecutive quarter of positive growth last year for the Chinese market.

However, that success hasn’t translated to Apple, whose market share fell 19.1% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter. Apple’s market share fell from 19.7% in the first quarter of 2023 to 15.7% in the first quarter of 2024, said in the report.

While vivo leads the pack with a 17.4% market share, Huawei is the one with a whopping 69.7% growth last year in the first quarter. Counterpoint senior research analyst Ivan Lam attributed Apple’s poor performance to Huawei’s comeback, which directly affected the premium iPhone maker.

Huawei managed to eat a huge share in the $600+ premium segment after the launch of its Mate 60 series. There is a possibility of the iPhone recovering in the near future, according to the analyst, who said:

In the second quarter, the possibility of new color options combined with aggressive sales initiatives may return the brand to positive territory; And of course, we’re waiting to see what its AI features will offer at WWDC in June. This has the potential to move the needle significantly long term.

Counterpoint previously reported that the Apple iPhone captured 50% of global smartphone revenue in 2023. The analytics firm attributed Apple’s success to the persistent and sticky “premium trends” of its ecosystem.

It is worth noting that the top six players in the Chinese market were only separated by 3% points in terms of market share. For reference, vivo recorded a market share of 17.4% and Xiaomi had 14.6% in the first quarter. Senior analyst Mengmeng Zhang said this was due to fierce competition during the Chinese New Year celebrations.

With their cost-effective offerings, Chinese OEMs could “benefit from the uptick in sales in the low-end segment as migrant workers purchase smartphones at more budget-friendly prices when they return home for the holidays,” the analyst said.

Speaking of vivo, although the company’s growth slowed a bit, its top spot in the quarter was driven by the Y35 Plus, Y36 and S18 models in the low-to-mid segment. Second-place holder Honor posted 11.5% growth last year by expanding into offline channels and launching models like the X50 and Play 40.