Honor consolidates its rise to the #3 spot in the Chinese smartphone market

Honor's share of the smartphone market in China dwindled to next to nothing in the wake of its split from its original parent company Huawei, as that OEM's mobile device business effectively crumbled worldwide. Now, however, the newly independent manufacturer has bounced back with a final place in the top 3 of the sector's rankings for the second third quarter running.

Honor also held this position in terms of smartphone shipments in its native China for July 2021. Now, Canalys has found that it has kept this performance consistent for the 2 months that followed, exhibiting a growth of 25% YoY for the whole of 3Q2021 to do so. Then again, it could not touch Vivo or OPPO, OEMs that remained at #1 and #2 respectively for the quarter.

Honor's success is now thought to stem from its ability to attract former Huawei customers; meanwhile, Apple posted a growth of 62% in the Chinese smartphone market for 3Q2021 due to the fact that 1 out of every 9 phones sold from the start of July to the end of September of this year in the country was an iPhone. On the other hand, the Cupertino giant was incapable of unseating Xiaomi (with a YoY growth of 4%) from its 4th spot in terms of shipments.

OPPO, on the other hand, may owe its position in the market from its recent formal absorption of OnePlus. That brand's sales will be counted as part of that of its new parents from 3Q2021 on, which means the OEM might also be seen rising through the ranks on a global scale as well in the future.

This all took place in a market for which total shipments fell by 5% YoY, although it did improve slightly quarter-on-quarter thanks to new releases such as those of the Xiaomi Civi series. Then again, things are not projected to get much better in 4Q2021 as the chip shortage starts to bite in earnest and OEMs look to their 2022 product cycles instead.

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