11.11 (11th Nov) is one of the largest online shopping festivals in China. Due to Covid-19 disruption and the weakening demand amid macroeconomic downturn, online smartphone sales posted a double-digit decline this year.
Despite the shrinking market size, Apple solidified the leadership with 39% volume share and 68% revenue share this year, up from 34% and 62% one year ago. Xiaomi being the largest Android brand across all major platforms (JD.com, TMall, Pinduoduo, and TikTok) ranked the second behind Apple by both volume and revenue. Honor ranked the third place by volume this year however Huawei replaced Honor in third spot by revenue due to a much higher retail ASP.
JD.com remained as the major battlefield for smartphone vendors and generated 45% sales volume this year. However, its leading position has been challenged by Alibaba and Pinduoduo recent years. Meanwhile, livestreaming platforms such as TikTok and Kuaishou are catching up quickly. Livestreaming is playing an increasing role in online market.
All industry stakeholders are recommended to track smartphone online channels to closely monitor and evaluate the development of China online market. Meanwhile, we observed gaming phones and foldable phones were gaining popularity among young people this year in China market. We encourage smartphone vendors to actively seek growth in these segments.
