The Zhitong Finance App learned that on May 23, Canalys published an article stating that in the first quarter of 2024, the smartphone market in mainland China picked up for the first time in two years, and shipments remained the same as the same period last year, reaching 67.7 million units. Among them, Huawei experienced 13 quarters and regained first place in the mainland China market. With the enthusiastic market response of the MATE and Nova series, the shipment volume reached 11.7 million units, and the market share reached 17%. The impressive performance of the OPPO Reno 11 series helped it quickly jump to second place, with 10.9 million units shipped.

On the other hand, Honor, Vivo, and Apple slowed down after active shipments in the fourth quarter of last year, ranking third, fourth, and fifth respectively. Honor ranked third with 10.6 million units shipped, up 9% year on year; vivo followed with 10.3 million units, with shipments falling 9% year on year; Apple had the biggest drop among the top five manufacturers, ranking fifth with 10 million units shipped, down 25% year on year.

Toby Zhu (Toby Zhu), senior analyst at Canalys, said, “The growth rate of the Chinese market at the beginning of the year was still lower than the global recovery rate of 11%, giving Huawei room to seize market share and quickly take back the crown. The shortage of production and supply of the Mate 60 series gradually improved in the first quarter and became an important factor driving the overall growth of Huawei. In addition to the high-end product line, Huawei released the Nova 12 series with Hongmeng 4.0 and support two-way satellite communication in December, further expanding the scope of application of Kirin chips and successfully boosting performance in the mid-range price segment.”

Zhu Jiatao said that this month, Huawei fully upgraded the P series to the Pura 70, using groundbreaking retractable lens technology to improve imaging performance, which sparked a buzz in the market. At this point, Huawei has completed the full iteration of mobile phone products and continues to inject vitality into the market. One of Huawei's key strategies in 2024 is to build smart terminal AI capabilities from the bottom layer of hardware and software systems, and expand successful ICT and industry-level AI practices to the consumer electronics field. As the Hongmeng operating ecosystem continues to expand, Huawei is gradually becoming the third-largest operating system for smartphones and other edge computing devices in the Chinese market, which is expected to break the dualist competition pattern of Android and iOS.

Amber Liu (Amber Liu), research manager at Canalys, added: “Despite Huawei's strong start to the year, our judgment is that the market is expected to maintain a moderate recovery of 1% in 2024. Looking ahead to 2024, industry discussions focus on increased competition and building a moat through innovation. Over the past year, market competition has intensified, and the share gap between manufacturers has gradually narrowed. This means that exploring growth opportunities across different channels is critical to seizing short-term opportunities. This will greatly test the vendor's ability in multi-channel management, price control, and inventory management.”

Canalys Research Analyst Lucas Zhong (Lucas Zhong) commented: “Generative AI phones have become a new racetrack for Chinese manufacturers to create differentiated high-end experiences in the local market and challenge Apple. Canalys expects next-generation generative AI phones to account for 12% of Chinese market shipments in 2024, leading the global average of 9%. Manufacturers are actively attracting consumers by developing interesting and practical AI mobile phone usage scenarios and deploying AI functions to the latest flagship products, while increasing investment in marketing to educate the market. In the first quarter of 2024, Honor explored cross-end AI features through its Magic 6 series and Magic Book Pro16. On the other hand, OPPO has made large-scale marketing investments, positioning the brand with AI features and innovation. In 2024, Chinese manufacturers will gradually differentiate their R&D and AI product strategies, which will jointly promote consumer awareness and adoption of AI products, thereby supporting a sustainable monetization model.”