By LU Keyan
Apple topped China’s smartphone sales in Q4 for the first time since 2015. With 23 percent of the market, Apple was followed by Vivo and OPPO.
Vivo topped sales over the whole year with 22 percent of the market, followed by OPPO with 21 percent. Apple was a distant third with 16 percent. Huawei’s dire shortage of chips has been blamed for its drop from 31 percent in 2020 to only 10 percent last year.
Realme, a budget phone maker founded by former OPPO vice president LI Bingzhong, saw a 379-percent explosion in sales. The company cut its teeth in the South and Southeast Asia markets before tackling the domestic market.
