Foreign-branded smartphones recorded a sharp rebound in China in November, with shipments jumping 128.4% year over year to 6.93 million units, according to the sources. The surge lifted foreign brands’ market share to about 23%, even as total smartphone shipments in the country rose a modest 1.9% to 30.16 million units. The turnaround follows a steep decline a year earlier, when foreign shipments fell 47.4% to just over 3 million units.
The recovery was driven largely by Apple’s latest iPhone 17 lineup, launched in September, which helped the company regain momentum and capture roughly a quarter of the Chinese market, its strongest position since 2022, the sources said. Despite intense competition from domestic brands such as Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi, and OPPO, which have rotated leadership positions throughout the year, analysts expect demand for new iPhones to buoy the broader market. Industry trackers now forecast fourth-quarter shipments to rise 17% year over year, potentially pushing full-year growth back into positive territory after earlier expectations of a decline, suggesting a cautiously improving outlook for China’s smartphone sector.
