Huawei Returns to Lead China’s Smartphone Market

Huawei has regained the top spot in China’s smartphone market for two weeks in a row, surpassing Apple after the launch of its Mate 80 series.

Reports show that in the 48th week of 2025, from November 24 to 30, Huawei held 27.81 percent of smartphone sales in China, while Apple followed with 17.12 percent. OPPO, vivo, and Honor completed the top five.

Huawei kept its lead in the 49th week, from December 1 to 7, with a 22.89 percent market share compared to Apple’s 18.65 percent. OPPO and vivo remained next in line, with Xiaomi in fifth place at 13.30 percent.

Analysts say Huawei’s comeback was largely due to its pricing strategy for the Mate 80 series, which went on sale on November 28. Despite rising global memory costs, Huawei launched the new phones at lower prices than the previous models.

HarmonyOS now has over 300,000 native apps and meta-services, and more than 27 million devices are running HarmonyOS 5 or 6, according to Richard Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei Consumer Business Group, at the product launch on November 25.

The standard Mate 80 starts at 4,699 yuan ($666), about 800 yuan cheaper than the previous generation. The Pro and Pro Max versions are also 500 yuan lower, priced at 5,999 yuan and 7,999 yuan, respectively. Online feedback has been mostly positive, with many users saying the phones offer better value.

Experts say that Huawei’s competitive pricing, high-end hardware, and a growing domestic software ecosystem have helped the company reclaim its leading position in China’s smartphone market.